I've spent the day in York, and it's been a vaguely unsatisfying experience. There were some good elements, and I'll cover them in other postings, but here I want to talk about by-elections. There has been, over the years, a degree of unhappiness about how the Party deals with candidate selection in such instances, and it would be fair to say that we've made the mistake of focussing on process
The BBC has a sympathetic profile of the Lib Dem MP, concentrating on the amount of travelling he has to do as MP for Orkney and Shetland: He has to travel from the islands to Westminster and back, a round trip of 1,400 miles, not to mention making his way around his widely scattered constituency - the UK's most northerly.Mr Carmichael told the BBC: "Go back 150 years ago and the MP came up for a summer tour and met some of the locals to get soundings."They went back to Westminster and that was usually it for the year."
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I thought the scenes of bitching and name calling we often see in the House of Commons was the finest example of public juvenile behaviour we had in this country. Not so - tonight the X Factor judges showed that they would do well on the green benches. Louis Walsh and Dannii Minogue let the argument I referred to earlier about song choices spill over into the live show. Neither of them covered themselves in glory, but I was particularly appalled that a woman of nearly 40 years of age allowed herself to get into such a tearful mess that ...
Taken a cab in London in the last few weeks? I bet you the cabbie's told you the one about how business is non-existent in the evening - "the clubs and bars are empty, even on a Thursday." And don't take their word for it. Domino's have confirmed that we are all being sad gits, staying at home and eating pizza (as I'm doing this evening) as we batten down for the recession. If things are bad now for the drinks industry, they are due to get a whole lot worse soon. According to press reports today, the Government will ...
Chipping Sodbury Victorian Day was very popular last year - and it's coming back! There will be all sorts of entertainments for the whole family - music, fair rides, late night shopping with the shop staff in costume, morris dancing and much more. Victorian Day is on Friday 5th December from 2 pm to 9.30 pm. Check out the Chipping Sodbury Lions Club website for full details of the Victorian Day events.
Before I succumbed to a an awful virus I was so pleased and proud to be part of a ceremony to hand over the Thornaby Mayoral chains back to the people of Thornaby. The detailed history of these is on the official Mayor's Blog, and it is worth getting the background if you are interested. I wore the chains as both Deputy Mayor and then Deputy Mayoress, and did so with pride on behalf of the...
First Bus has told South Glos's Transport Select Committee that they will be fine-tuning bus times now that the recent changes have bedded in - see the Gazette story here. This was in response to local people who have complained to councillors about problems with the amended services between Bristol and Yate and Chipping Sodbury. The good news is that many of the buses that serve our area will be replaced next year. The older buses will be withdrawn and replaced by some three-year-old vehicles from elsewhere. Second-hand, but better than what we've got at the moment.
The train companies have announced price rises of around 6% for "regulated" fares - including season tickets and saver tickets - but in some other fares will go up considerably more. According to today's Guardian "Unregulated fares, which include most leisure and advanced-fare tickets, will rise by an average of 7%, with some fares increasing by over 11%" They are allowed to put regulated fares up by the retail price index plus 1%, and the increase is based on July's inflation figure of 5%. So despite the fall in inflation they can still put the prices up (which will increase ...
Isn't it terrible, how someone could leak the personal details of thousands of people and break data protection laws and all that terrible stuff. Are you still overwhelmed by your anger and hatred for the BNP? I am. Anyway isn't wikileaks such a great site!
Recent research has suggested that children's development could be harmed when they face forward in their buggies and so have less interaction with their parents. But it isn't only babies who benefit from human interaction. Millions of years of evolution mean children and adults function better with it too. That's why the seductive idea that you can replace traffic police with speed cameras and humans with huge databases doesn't work so well. It's why we start to understand that having everyone driving around in their own metal boxes and telling them there's no need to interact with other people - ...
Her nibs arranged one of her little treats for me last night and got me a ticket to see Ed Byrne (below on You Tube) at Newbury Corn Exchange. Things have recently been rather hectic at work, coinciding with less than usually obsessive blogging, so this treat was very much welcomed. Ed Byrne says what I would say if I was sufficiently articulate and could be arsed. I feel I share a very
Lord Mandelson will get paid a huge £202,778 per year as a member of the Cabinet according to the NOTW Politics blog. This is more then what the Prime Minister gets which is £189,994. Now that is very interesting. I don't know about Mandelson's attendance in the Lords but flaming heck that is a little out of order paying Mandelson all that money and giving him a peerage just so that Brown could make him one of his chums and an adviser. Why did he not just give him a job in Number 10 as an adviser!
The people of Greater Manchester will be receiving their Congestion Charge referendum papers any day now. The referendum asks whether local people want £3bn invested in public transport, in return for the introduction of the charge. This £3bn will be made up, roughly speaking of a £1.5bn grant from the government, and a £1.5bn loan from the government which we will pay back using the charge. Local Liberal Democrats have been leading the fight against the charge, and I will be voting "No." Here are three reasons why: 1) The people of Greater Manchester deserve world class public transport WITHOUT ...
Sat 22nd
19:19
Another road fatality in Yate - police appeal for witnesses to Scott Way motorcycle crash
Police are appealing for witnesses following a fatal accident involving a motorcyclist shortly after midnight (Sat 22 November) on Scott Way in Yate. Police believe the motorcyclist, who comes from the South Gloucestershire area, was travelling south from the A432 on to Scott Way when the bike collided with the kerb, causing the rider to fall. The male rider was taken by ambulance to Frenchay Hospital but died shortly afterwards. Police are keen to hear from anyone who may have been in the area at the time who may have information to help their enquiries. Anyone able to help is ...
Journalism has become a far more risky profession since I started out as a cub reporter for the Manchester Evening News and the Geographical Magazine in the Vietnam War. It is not only in war or conflict zones that journalists are often deliberately targeted these days. Just this week, in Yerevan, Armenia, Edik Baghdasarian, who heads [...]
BBC Trust chap trying to outline the history of the Ross/Brand/Sachs/Baillie saga without saying anything offensive to viewers of a delicate disposition: "He said that he had 'met' her, if I may put it that way, and then he said that he had 'met' her brains out..." You couldn't make this stuff up.
In case you haven't seen this on Duncan's blog, do have a look. What made me laugh most was the line "All well and good if you don't have a life of your own and like to live vicariously through someone like Mr Borrowman..." Like the person who wrote the piece, presumably. Interesting to note that one of the local MP's hasn't updated her web since July - if you are going to put it out there, you have to update it regularly....... LibDig This!
Just so you know, I haven't been ignoring you over the last week and a half - I have not been well. Some call it cold turkey after the Glenrothes by-election and have suggested that I head down to Bexley to help in the Council by-election there. It's actually been a bit of a mean virus which has made me feel very poorly indeed, but nothing serious. I hope it will go away soon - it's seriously annoying me, now, rather than overwhelming me, which has to be a good sign. I have found it frustrating not to have had ...
The News Shopper accuse me of constant twittering! Actually quite a fun little piece on political use of the internet (though they don't actually mention this blog, or my Facebook or my website...). One thing they have done is highlight that the time stamps on my Twitter are wrong!
Who, in the early '70s wrote Our role as Young Liberals is initially to act as the creative focus for the new radicalism; it is to blow a breath of fresh air through radical politics...Our aim, in short, is to create a society with an infinity of centres of power.And who in the early '90s wroteThe greatest crime for a liberal is to snuff out a soul, to take a spirit and break it, to stop someone being able to think or hope.Clue: both quotes come from books of essays published by the youth movement of our great party (or ...
News is beginning to leak out about President-elect Obama's Cabinet. The big news seems to be Hilary Clinton going to State, but as far as I am concerned the appointment of Bill Richardson to Commerce is far more exciting.
We await Labour's plans to help out companies and stimulate the economy. The Conservative plans are very poorly thought out - deferring VAT payments simply means that companies will get into more trouble whenever they have to make the extra payments - pay double VAT next year ? This could be catastrophic. This is because VAT liabilities continue for even unprofitable businesses. This also does nothing to stimulate spending or encourage employment. Here are 2 ideas - one virtually cost free and one tax cut alternative to Income tax or VAT cuts. Both would have an immediate impact: 1. Allow ...
Sat 22nd
16:25
Bath & North East Somerset Conservatives refuse Independent Review of Bath Transportation Packag...
Conservative Councillors in B&NES have come under fire tonight for refusing to consider an independent review of the Bath Transportation Package. The Liberal Democrat motion which was tabled to tonight's B&NES Council meeting was intended to permit a proper debate on the Package, which has caused so much controversy. However the Conservative Group forced through...
A few days ago, a dissident member of the British National Party posted his party's membership list on the internet. The publication of this data provides us with some interesting information about the demographics of BNP membership. The Guardian (20 November) published an interactive map showing the concentration of BNP membership by parliamentary constituency. On BBC2's Newsnight (19 November), its political editor Michael Crick drilled down further. Newsnight commissioned polling company Ipsos-MORI to analyse the BNP membership list. The top five places where BNP members live are Halifax, Blackburn, Blackpool, Leicester and Romford. There are hardly any members in Scotland ...
This morning, I firstly attended the Dundee West Church Guild Christmas Coffee Morning - see above - extremely well attended and a great atmosphere! Thereafter, at 11am, the Lord Provost officially opened the West End Christmas Week, at the Community Safety Event at Blackness Fire Station - with input from numerous organisations including Tayside Fire and Rescue, Tayside Police, Trading Standards, West End Community Council, Community Spirit Action Group, Community Safety Partnership and others. A couple of photos from the event are below. Don't forget - on Wednesday at 6.15pm in Dundee West Church, this year's West End Christmas Concert ...
Total Politics will be referring to me as a "Libertarian Leftie" in issue 6 of their magazine in the Best of the Blogs feature (thanks to my Nick Clegg interview - which is amazing because not even Lib Dem Voice managed to find a spot for that in the Golden Dozen!). Still. A Leftie! Me! I'm amused. I am full of amusement. I have a badge on that says, "Hello, I'm amused! Ask me why!".
After a weekend off last week, I'm on the road again dashing between London, a bitterly cold Suffolk, Nottinghamshire and Woking. Last night I was the guest speaker at the Ashfield Consituency AGM, at the invitation of their PPC Jason Zadrozny who amongst his many distinctions is my only Facebook friend in the Zeds. Unlike some, the AGM itself was very short, maybe holding it in a chinese restaurant with the proximity of food encouraging everyone to keep it short is the way to do it. Simon Hughes had been in the area, and stayed on for the AGM so ...
Here in perpetually regenerated Salford we're being told that the council (in spite of its financial difficulties) is well placed to ride the recession and that its regeneration plans have merely been slowed. My own view is that problems will soon be revealed as being much, much more serious than Labour are letting on, and [...]
The Guardian reports on this; "The Global Peace Festival, at the Excel Centre in the London docklands, is expected to attract thousands of activists from across Europe and features addresses from Preston Moon, the third son of the church's founder, and Tom Brake, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman." Words fail....they really do...in my eyes the GPU episode was bad but this is dreadful. The Moonies are a cult so what are our MP's doing speaking on their platforms??
Having just been out delivering I have some observations to make on this topic; 1) I hate those stiff bristly things. What is with them?? Also, dogs that watch you out of the window...silently, almost psychopathic in their brooding stares. 2) Why do people have letterboxes that are literally no bigger than a baby's hand?? 3) What is with a sticker on your door saying; 'I S.E.X'. What does it mean?? Does it mean 'I love sex'?? Does it mean 'I am sex'?? Does it mean they are having sex?? If so, why do they need a sticker on a ...
Our ghasts were truly flabbered by the shock announcement that Barclays had chosen to take unfavourable terms from Middle-Eastern financiers rather than take taxpayer's money and submit to a Government tool sat at their board table. I think they're looking pretty smart just now. The question is: Will Brown choose to Nationalise them anyway? After all, any sad fool stuck owning RBS, HBOS or Lloyds shares will scream blue murder at the idea that Barclays customers won't have their investments stolen from them, too. This is all so sickening, if true. It's like a man opens a door to let ...
Yesterday in the pub, conversation was revolving around the leaked BNP membership list. The range of views ran the gamut, and it was interesting to watch. The scary bit? One of the guys, who I won't name, said Well, you know me, I'm not racist, and don't want this country to go back to the fifties, but I voted for them in the last council elections. Now this is a fairly enlightened guy, and there was some surprise at this statement. He was asked why, and replied because they said they'd sort out the car parking at the hospital. This ...
Germany has withdrawn its European Arrest Warrant against Gerald Toben. Dr Toben is an acadmic whom the German authorities accuse of denying the holocaust happened, which is a crime under anti-Nazi laws in Germany and Austria. European Arrest Warrants must specify precise details the wanted person is supposed to have done and under what law it is a crime. The [...]
Huw Lewis is absolutely correct in his assertion today that accusations of being 'anti-Welsh' amount to the sort of unacceptable smear that closes down debate. It is the sort of tactic that Plaid Cymru have been fond of using though members of all parties have also indulged in similar accusations of one sort or the other in an attempt to gain political advantage. If there is one thing that the developing consensus in the Welsh Assembly has established it is that all parties represented in it are commited to the devolution project in one form or another. Some are more ...
Vince Cable has stood out as an advocate of extremely sound economic policy while his counterparts have floundered. He predicted the housing collapse, he warned that the UK's debt-binge was unsustainable and he was the first to take a decisive stance when Northern Rock collapsed. But the Liberal Democrats' support for a stimulus of £30 billion - to include tax cuts for the low-paid and public spending increases - in next week's Pre-Budget Report is entirely the wrong step. As Reform's new report shows, the academic evidence is that rather than boosting the economy, a stimulus could in fact cause ...
The Daily Politics show had a top dog from The Simpsons on their show the other day talking about Politics in the cartoon. I don't tend to watch the Daily Politics but only found this clip whilst poking my nose on the BBC's website. I think you should watch the video as it is interesting by following this link.
Whatever the long term outcome of the banking bailout, there will be at least two negative repercussions - more regulation and political interference. This week, politicians have been lambasting the banks for not providing funds to small businesses struggling to survive in these difficult times. John McFall, the Chair of the Treasury Select Committee, wanted to name and shame the worst offenders. It's understandable on one level - if the state pumps in £37 billion to save the banks from meltdown, the least the banks can do in return is to support other businesses in trouble. But what happens if ...
The news that repossession actions in Wales have risen by more than one fifth in a year is disturbing but not unexpected. Over 8,000 homes are under threat. The figures are especially bad in Merthyr Tydfil and in parts of Mid and North Wales. The Conwy and Colwyn County Court has seen a 77% rise in repossession cases over the year.Merthyr County Court has seen a 41% rise, while the figures for Wrexham and Carmarthen are both up 40%. It offers me no confort to record that these figures are still not as bad as the 1990s but they are ...
Liberal Democrats in Hastings & Rye have called for Income Tax cuts to help struggling families weather the recession. Speaking over the weekend, Nick Perry, Lib Dem parliamentary campaigner for Hastings & Rye, said that local people have endured a year of rocketing fuel, transport and food prices and many are still out of pocket following [...]
The Watford Observer reports that the Watford Conservative Association is moving quickly to replace Ian Oakley, the Tory PPC convicted of 68 criminal offences against his Liberal Democrat opponent Sal Brinton and her colleagues. Curious, then, that ConservativeHome appear to have no knowledge of the advertisement (it isn't in the most recent list of advertised seats on ConservativeHome), and in fact their last entry for Watford reports Oakley's pleading guilty at St Albans Magistrates Court back in August. Neither the local Conservative Association nor David Cameron have yet apologised to Watford Liberal Democrats for Oakley's reign of terror whilst he ...
When England and South Africa contested the rugby world cup final last autumn they were playing for the Webb Ellis Cup. Why? Because, as everyone knows, when a schoolboy at Rugby, William Webb Ellis picked up the ball during a game of football and ran with it, thus inventing a new sport. Except that, as a website put together by Peter Shortell proves, he almost certainly didn't. Webb Ellis, who died in 1872, the year after the Rugby Football Union was formed, was probably unaware of his supposed role in the invention of the game, much as Harry Calder almost ...
Blogging will be a little light this weekend; I am visiting my partner and her family. Let's be quite clear nobody is proposing printing barrow-loads full of money to solve the economic problems. The crux of the problems vis a vie lending is the fact that interest cutting by the Bank of England is not being matched by the banks; that they are gobbling-up the rate cut. Also, as has been previously reported on this blog they are continuing with absurd bonus practices which have no place in this fiscal climate. It's worth pointing out that money still ends up ...
Britten was born in Lowestoft on 22 November 1913. As On an Overgrown Path records, his birthplace (21 Kirkley Cliff Road) is now a five-star guest house.
Was driving to do some photos at Exeter races yesterday (tough life ;-p) when I heard an episode of the Radio 4 Comedy Fags, Mags and Bags. It's a sit com based in an Indian run corner shop. Yesterday included a plot about the upwardly mobile son inventing his own version of the George Foreman Grill. He created the Lembit Opik Pitta Heater - 'because Lembit Opik is not just a Liberal Democrat, he's Everyman (and he's deceptively tall).' Utterly brilliant. I urge you to listen again
Iain Dale is 'terrified, if true' by Fraser Nelson's Spectator column where he: "asserts serious economists now view the London financial markets as "Reykjavik on Thames""What Iain Dale and Fraser Nelson fail to mention if that the FT article which coined the phrase, by LSE economist Willem Buiter, went on to say that:"If Iceland had been a member of the euro area, its central bank would have
The Ordnance Survey (OS) has accussed the Met of breaking the (legally binding) terms of use for its data when the Met started producing maps showing crime levels across London. At the heart of the dispute is the problem that although the OS is a public body, it is also expected to hit profit targets each year, and therefore treats letting others - including other public bodies - use its data as a commercial transaction. This means that many possible interesting developments matching up data or pointing people at data are hindered, or never happen, because of the costs involved. ...
It's been a long time coming, but we've now heard the good news back from TfL that they've finally agreed to our demands and will move the Angel crossing. As the thousands of people who use it every day know, this crossing is a nightmare: it's too crowded, people have too long to wait, [...]
Earlier this week, everyone was asking me why I've been hobbling around on crutches, so I thought I'd better tell you as well, dear reader... Last Sunday was the birthday of a friend of mine. I'd been in Lambeth with her and some of her other friends for a Thai meal and a film. After a couple of drinks in the pub, I got peckish again and we headed for a late-night McDonalds. It was quite late now, so the inside was shut, but the drive-through was open, so we ordered on foot at the drive-through window. A woman driving ...
So Brown's getting close to implementing one the key planks of a traditional Socialist State: Wholesale compulsory nationalisation of banks. This is a joke, right? Someone please tell me this is a joke? The problem is that small businesses, you see, aren't being lent money by the banks, even though they've had taxpayers money and, grr, while they promised to remain 'hands off', the banks are making Brown look like a bloody fool and must be shown who's boss. See, the banks are making decisions about which businesses will be able to pay that money back - short term cashflow ...
Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors should not receive a bailout. Furthermore, their requests for a bailout, and likewise the financial sector, should demonstrate something about power in modern society. If a firm employs a large proportion of the population then it can argue that it needs state support in bad times because the effects of failure on the rest of the economy would be profound. This firm then has undue power over the rest of us. Its failures are automatically the problem of society at large. It has too much power. In this situation government could act in one of ...
So as part of the consultation process on ID cards, I found this interesting section relating to notifications of changes to your personal details (page 87) 2.6 Where a notification of a change is made, the Secretary of State may require the person concerned to do one or more of the following in order to ensure the accuracy of the Register:To attend at a specified place and time; To allow his fingerprints and other biometric information such as facial biometrics to be recorded;To allow himself to be photographed;Otherwise to provide such information as may be required by the Secretary of ...
One of the countless emails into my inbox today was from the party's transport adviser Alice Douglas, all about the inflation busting fare rises planned for the trains. As of January, regulated fares go up 6% in nearly all cases, and on National Express East Coast, the unregulated fares go up 7.4%. All that extra to pay so I can enjoy the privilege of having my train to London cancelled. Talking
Lee Rowley, over on ConHome, highlights one very important figure and a crucial fact. There are 75,000 households waiting for social housing who are living in temporary accommodation. Currently, once you receive a council home it is yours for life at a subsidized level, and in some cases can be passed on. This is a problem that needs addressing. Currently, social housing exists not simply to support those most vulnerable in society but those who no longer need the help. 260,000 social housing household contain at least one member with an income over the UK median. Clearly this detracts from ...
