This afternoon I travelled to Birmingham to take part in ALDC's kickstart weekend. It gave me an opportunity to experience two types of train service. After a onference this morning I was dropped off at Harlow Mill train station. To be honest it was a rather bleak station, mainly made of concrete. What annoyed me more than anything was the only shelter I could find was either under the road
Some of the more observant amongst you may have noticed my virtual disappearance over the last month. By Elections, dear boy, by elections... Well, it was one of my best campaigns, even if I say so myself. And in gaining the Hardwick County Council seat last night, another blow to the local Tories. Despite the usual (this time, not as bad as usual in fairness) sleazy Tory tactic of trying to blame others for their own failings, they were, duly, defeated. Fiona will make an excellent County Councillor. We now have 23 county councillor and on the swing we got ...
If anyone doesn't believe that the temporary VAT reduction isn't going to cause untold misery in small businesses, especially retail ones, they should read Mike Barker's blog. A Darlington retailer who's also a councillor, he describes in graphic detail what the change means to him this weekend. What a way to "save" the economy, Gordon.
We have traded some homemade jams and chutneys for some pheasants. This will make for an interesting weekend of pheasant plucking! Now that we are part of the self-sufficient fraternity (or rather, we are attempting to be - the plan is to be largely self-sufficient in food by 2010) we can expect more plucking weekends engaged in food preparation of this nature! And when I am not plucking, I will
Between a hospital check up and a Regional update I took a bit of time to visit the Christmas market today. The sun was shining and the air was crisp and cold - perfect weather for wandering round and admiring the content of the stalls as well as buying a few little gifts for people. The craft stalls are in little wooden chalets, decorated with lights and greenery and really looking good. Our
Quite rightly, because of the discussions about the Baby P tragedy, we didn't reach Oral Questions at Council on Monday. These have a half hour slot, and are shared between the two political groups. We usually get to ask just three, with Labour stretching out 'planted' questions, where cabinet members are asked to comment on how well they are performing in one way or another (though quite incredibly, one Labour councillor, Emma Jones, managed to ask one of these 'helpful' questions about Baby P earlier in the meeting). I was going to ask Labour's troubled Finance boss if he would ...
My House Points column from today's Liberal Democrat News. Kettles of fish MPs assembled the other day for a great Commons occasion. Not the pre-budget report but the annual debate on fisheries. It featured a figure that this column has become obsessed with over the years: the Minister for Fish. Last Thursday there was a new one in plaice: Huw Irranca-Davies. Hansard calls him the "Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs," but we know what that really means. It is always an important debate for members with fishing interests in their constituencies, and many of them ...
Welcome to the Catchup posting in its new regular time slot at the end of business on Friday. We start this week where we started last time with the ongoing repercussions of the death of Baby P. Our own Alix Mortimer laid out a series of constructive steps concerned people could take themselves. Mark Pack gave us news of what social workers themselves think of the situation. And barrister and Euro candidate Antony Hook wrote an explanatory piece on the role of anonymity in the criminal justice system, partly in response to the Baby P case. The tragic, untimely death ...
Iain Dale thinks we are after the Michael Brown verdict; "The Electoral Commission has said it will now reopen its investigation as to whether the donation was permissible in the first place. If it finds that it wasn't - and I can't see what other conclusion it can come to - then the LibDems face having to pay back the £2.4 million." The BBC also reports; "an American lawyer has launched High Court action for the return of hundreds of thousands of pounds he claims Brown gave to the Lib Dems." So, in short it would be wrong to assume ...
I think it's safe to say that the two weeks encompassing all of the hustings for your party's leadership election are a pretty bad time for a blogger to be distinctly unwell and in the middle of moving house. At such times, what you really need to get your blogging energy flowing is for a journalist to say something pathetically, moronically insulting. Matt Withers of The Western Mail, you are
Brown is on the run... and the Lib Dems have done nothing wrong.
Today I recei mulled wine, mince piesved an invitation to the re-opening of the 'fitness studio' at one of the council's leisure centres. It's headed 'VIP Invitation'. I wondered why. Had the Leisure department seen my increasing girth and decided that I was more in need than most? Then I re-read the invitation and realised that [...]
Moralising prig and sometime Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is at it* again. Not content with wanting to criminalise those who have no intention of breaking the law, but do want to pay for sex, she now wants to make it harder** for socially awkward men and women to see naked members of the opposite or [...]
The dodgy donor Michael Brown has been found guilty in absentia, the BBC reports: Top Lib Dem donor stole millions A bogus international bonds dealer who donated £2.4m to the Liberal Democrats has been found guilty of stealing more than £30m from clients. Southwark Crown Court heard Michael Brown defrauded £36m, including £8m from former Manchester Utd chairman Martin Edwards. He was tried in his absence after skipping bail and is still on the run. Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said the party had done all the necessary checks and was "totally unaware" of the fraud. "We took that money ...
Fri 28th
17:48
CommentIsLinked@LDV: Bridget Fox - 'Damian Green case shows we are taking freedom of information for...
The latest blog of Bridget Fox, Lib Dem PPC for Islington South and Finsbury, is now live over at The Guardian's website, with thoughts on the Damian Green case, VAT changes, and our success on the Angel crossing campaign. Read it in full here, but here's a sneak preview of Bridget's alternative fiscal stimulations suggestions: If the government wanted to change VAT, why not make a permanent cut on measures such as energy conservation methods for existing homes. Converting existing buildings to provide affordable homes is the right kind of investment to attract a VAT cut. A further discount on ...
Are the reports on Red Box true? If the Conservatives have footage of the raid then I think the immediate questions become how and why?? Sam Coates says that if it exists then; "Any footage of the police in an MPs' office is likely to put yet more pressure on the Speaker and Seargant at Arms to justify why he allowed them in first place." I think the reverse is true; if they do they are sitting on them because they know that there will be a cacophony of responses asking precisely what went on here and any sympathy they ...
Channel 4 has an entertaining drama about the English Civil War at the moment, charmingly entitled 'The Devil's Whore'. One of the scenes in the latest episode was the critical moment that precipitated the whole slaughter when King Charles entered the House of Commons and demanded that the Speaker point out the 5 MPs he sought to arrest. As every history buff knows, paraphrased, the Speaker said he had neither eyes to see nor tongue to speak save as the House commanded him. I wonder if Speaker Michael Martin is a history buff or if he has carelessly overlooked this ...
65) Orson Scott Card, Xenocide (London: Orbit 1991, ISBN 1857238583). This is the third in the Ender saga. Since I read the first two, I've learned some rather unsavoury things about Card's views on gender and sexual orientation, so as I read this I was looking out for signs of those views bleeding through into his writing. I didn't find much; there's perhaps a touch of the "woman as conscience of the man" stereotype, but his women characters are also far more than that. There is also one passage where Ender seems to have more difficulty accommodating the hierarchical worldview ...
Great news - we're going to change the recycling system which I have long maintained is an environmental disaster. Starting in 2009 we'll collect paper and cardboard separately from glass, metal and plastic. At the moment the paper gets so contaminated with glass shards that no papermaker can recycle it. In future we'll send it straight to a papermaker who will actually pay us. We'll also be encouraging people to put their glass into on-street bottle banks whenever possible because that's by far the most environmentally friendly thing to do. And we're going to roll out a food waste collection ...
From PoliticsHome report of BBC news: Mr. Clegg called the arrest of Damian Green "a mayday warning for British democracy." He said "We have one of the most unaccountable, secretive forms of government anywhere in the modern world. Now we have an opposition frontbench spokesman raided by anti-terror police. It's the kind of thing you'd expect in a tinpot dictatorship.
It has been highlighted that Damian Green was not arrested under Counter-Terror laws. He was, it seems, arrested by 'Counter-Terror' Police, because apparently this 'crime' comes under their remit. "Counter-Terror" Police. Hmm. A distinct unit of the police with special powers. Specifically interested in politicial opponents that use terror and or intimidation rather than the democratic process, but now have extended their list of threats to the State to Opposition MPs. I find this frightening. One can imagine, 20 years down the line, Japanese people adding 'カーンタテラ' or 'Kánta Tera' to their list of katakana 'imported' words and using it ...
Jacqui Smith yesterday told the BBC of her plans to tighten the law over lap-dancing clubs. Until recently I was undecided on whether planning rules for lap-dancing clubs should be tightened up to make it easier for local communities to block them. I'm still not sure about the general principles, but a couple of things have persuaded me on the specific issue of lap-dancing clubs. You'll recall that planning rules make it difficult to block such clubs, treating them in the same way as cafes. The police say they don't cause much trouble (less that pubs) and the reasons people ...
The Wolverhampton Politics Show returns tonight - Friday 28th November 8pm on 101.8 WCR FM
Justice Secretary Jack Straw has announced a cutting edge, risqué new clothing line ahead of the Christmas rush on clothes outlets over the next month. Christmas was expected to be a real downer for the retail industry and bring home the realities of recession for an industry which partly relies on the seasonal stampede. The Government has already announced emergency measures like cutting the rate of VAT by a whopping 2.5% and lowering prices across the board (apart from in small shops) and making sure those who pay more VAT (the rich) also pay less tax this Christmas. Yet retailers ...
The question, of course, is to what extent communications by MPs is privileged. In fact in 1957/8 there was a case in which the LEB threatened a writ against an MP because of a letter he had written to a Minister. This was raised in the house to be referred to the Privileges committee The committee considered the issue and on October 30, 1957 concluded that "(a) In writing the letter of
Guido has wrote about how Robert Mugabe and Gordon Brown are identical in many senses. You can read this very interesting post by following the link. Iain Dale has been getting his nickers in a twist over the Damian Green's arrest! And you can read his post here, here, here, here and here. Brown and cronies really know how to s*** up the people of the UK by using their powers and using counter terrorism police to arrest an MP and search his Constituency and Parliamentary office. Personally I think the people behind this arrest, who ever that is should ...
Cambridgeshire CC, Hardwick LD Fiona Whelan 1369 (49.9; +14.5) Con 1169 (42.6; +1.3) Lab 208 (7.6; -7.4) [Green (0.0; -8.3)] Majority 200 Turnout 36% LD gain from Con Percentage change is since May 2005 Devon CC, Exminster and Kenton LD Alan Connett 1969 (62.5; +12.1) Con 1182 (37.5; +0.4) [Lab (0.0; -12.5)] Majority 787 Turnout 43% LD hold Percentage change is since May 2005 Teignbridge DC,
Bath MP Don Foster is calling for real action in keeping HGVs and through traffic out of Bath, by researching a scheme that sees alternative recommended routes sent to Sat Nav mapping companies. Earlier this month Liberal Democrat research revealed that Bath and North East Somerset Council officers had not been attending meetings of the South West Regional Freight Forum, where the...
Thanks to an online petition started by Billie-Jo Maynard and signed by over 2600 people, colourful local character and self-styled pagan priest Conrad Pugsley was invited to participate in the switching on the Christmas lights celebrations in Sutton, alongside SpongeBob SquarePants and Peppa Pig. As Billie-Jo and his fellow signatories are so professedly fond of our [...]
My latest Guardian blog, covering the Damian Green case, VAT changes, and our success on the Angel crossing campaign, is now online.
The Sun: Not touching it with a barge pole.The Mirror: Not touching it with a barge pole.The Hate Mail: Police State UK: Outcry as Anti-Terror Police arrest top Tory MP over 'Immigration leaks to media'The Daily Express: Tory Arrested in Immigration Leak RowThe Independent: "Serious Questions" over MP's arrest, Says CameronThe Times: Angry Tories Rally Behind Arrested Frontbencher Damian Green and Arrested under the most sinister law in Britain?The Telegraph: Damian Green Arrest 'like Mugabe's ZimbabweThe Gruniad: Damian Green Arrest worrying for Democracy, says Cameron Is this story going to run and run? It depends on whether or not the ...
My latest post on the Total Politics blog, looking at two myths surrounding yesterday's arrest of Tory MP Damian Green.
I would highly recommend this piece over on Liberal Conspiracy which provides an altogether more sober view of the Green affair then anything that has been spewed forth by the partisan Tory blogsphere which has got it's knickers well and truly in a twist. I think it is downright dangerous and wrong to say Green 'acted in the public interest' when he quite clearly didn't and that much is even true from the list that the BBC provided. Green was clearly acting in the interests of his political party and his own political agenda and although I still see the ...
Last night I went to the University of Wolverhampton Student Union. I was there to be filmed discussing the decline of Student Union bars, Wolverhampton closed theirs at the end of last year - now at 6.10 on a Thursday evening the whole Union is deserted.
Struggling for words to articulate my thoughts on the story of today - that'll be the state arresting an opposition MP for no reason* - I shall simply give up, and instead focus on a positive: On this day in 1919, Lady Nacy Astor was elected to Parliament, becoming the first woman to ever sit in the House of Commons. She had virtually no links with the women's suffrage movement, was a bit of a toff, and simply replaced her husband in his Plymouth Sutton seat. Nonetheless - it was a start, what? * For better commentary on this issue ...
File under "Ludicrous Populism". From The Times:Now Gordon Brown has caught the bug. The PM has been bombarding contestants on The X Factor with missives urging them to rebel against Simon Cowell's strictures.
Legal anonymity has been much in the news lately what with the shocking cases of Baby P and the abused Sheffield sisters. Barrister Antony Hook weighs up a few pros and cons. Openness is a hallmark of justice in a democratic state. "Sunlight is the best disinfectant" was how US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis put it. It is obvious why. The hard experience of history is that public officials, judges included, serve best when people can see what they do, to whom they do it, and on what basis. The secrecy in Baby P's case is a striking exception. ...
The Islington Gazette has printed the letter I signed with others from the local NO2ID campaign. I object to ID cards in principle. They are an unecessary burden on law abiding citizens. ID cards are costly and bureaucratic. It will need a massive and massively expensive database to make the system work. People who change [...]
Damian Green has made it clear that he thinks that it is the business of opposition MPs to publicise information that the Government tries to sit on. The Government (and the Police) clearly think that it isn't. But the Goverment is, of course, not so lily white on this issue. Much has been made of the fact that lots of the Pre-Budget Report was leaked to the media before the Chancellor made his statement to the Commons. Some may have been put out there by the famed Treasury Mole, but it is quite clear that other information was leaked by, ...
Bethan Jenkins, John Dixon and now Adam Price MP have all come out in opposition to the One Wales Government's proposal to introduce top-up fees for Welsh students in Welsh universities. Adam writes on his blog: We agreed to a review of the policy on the grounds that it would be irresponsible not to even discuss the matter in light of the fact that the Westminster Government might raise the cap of £3000 on the level of fees. But most importantly of all, there was no agreement to respond in the way the Minister has suggested. This position doesn't deny ...
This week Liberal Democrat Voice is running a series of articles from Tim Leunig about the economy - how we got here and what we should do next. So far the series has covered bank bailouts, bank lending, fiscal policy and interest rates. Tax policy The rapid deterioration in the fiscal position should worry us all. The British tax system is much more pro-cyclical than people previously thought, so that tax revenues fall dramatically even when the downturn is relatively small. (Remember, the economy has only just started to decline, so the fall in tax revenue so far is massively ...
Still not talking about Mumbai. It's too horrible to contemplate. Anton has a great post about it, and if you want a personal angle you should be reading mcgillianaire. In fact, you should be reading mcgillianaire anyway, he's great. I AM reading a lot about the arrest of Damian Green, though. Lots and lots of people are shouting things like OUTRAGE!!! and STALINESQUE!!!... j_rentoul (why yes, that is THE John Rentoul; The Indy are using LJ for their blog platform now, didn't you know?) has the best entry about this subject AFAIC. Where were all these people saying Gordon must ...
Speaking on Radio 4 this morning, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Huhne said of Damian Green's arrest: I was frankly shocked and astonished by this. It will have a chilling effect on what MPs are able to do. Getting information into the public domain ... clearly of the public interest is absolutely a key part. I find this a very worrying development. (Source: PoliticsHome) In a longer statement, he elaborated: Receiving information from Government departments in the public interest and publicising it is a key part of any MP's role. This is the most worrying development for many years, with the ...
The worrying news of the arrest and questioning of Damien Green, the Conservatives' Shadow Immigration Minister, over Home Office leaks yesterday raises serious questions about the execution of the anti-terror laws that Labour have brought forwards in recent years. All through the process there has been concern raised that such draconian measures in the wrong hands could lead to major concerns over the democratic process. But who would ever have thought that those wrong hands would actually be those of the Labour party. A party that themselves were often under investigation for communist leanings, as any reader of Tony Benn's ...
Via the BBC: The law must change to prevent another Metropolitan Police commissioner shooting unarmed innocent civilians, the outgoing chief of the force has said. Sir Ian Blair quit in October, saying he did not have the support of humanity, who was elected the people at the beginning of time. Speaking in his final interview, Sir Ian warned [...]
If the reporting of this story is correct, then this is truly appalling. It's inconceivable that someone senior in government didn't know about this. If this is true and they didn't try to stop it, they should resign, simple as. And that goes for those senior in the Met too. As least this might might make it easier to argue with my Tory in-laws who think my talk of Civil Liberties, dangerous anti-terror laws, breakdown of trust in the police is a lot of fuss and nonsense. Now one of theirs has been affected they may take a different view. ...
The news that front bench Tory MP Damien Green had been arrested by 'counter-terrorism' officers and held for nine hours for leaking Home Office material demands a blog post. I'm staggered by this news; not only does Green have a right to freedom of expression in law, but as a journalistic source and a whistle-blower [...]
The following advert has winged its way to LDV Towers: The Federal Policy Committee would like to invite Party members to put their name forward to serve on Policy Working Groups. As part of our annual exercise to recruit new members into the working groups, we will put together a panel of potential working group members from which we will draw when setting up individual groups. As a member of the Policy Panel, you will receive the policy newsletter 6 times a year, highlighting new developments in policy, announcing new spokesperson's papers and keeping you up to date with the ...
Picking up my daily read this morning I was horrified to see on the Times front page the sub headline (since not searchable in the online archive): At least 125 dead in Bombay [sic] violence spills into second day. I'd not picked up yesterday's paper as I was walking to the newsagents on a day of when the express bus pulled up at my bus stop, so it may well have been the same yesterday. However, over 10 pages 7 of news, the leading article, the opinion piece of Maria Mistra and even the letters page, every single mention of ...
{charge_media-obanner.jpg} Ballot papers will be arriving this week in the Greater Manchester wide referendum on the TIF Bid and Congestion Charging. Liberal Democrats in Prestwich and across Bury have been campaigning for a "no" vote in the referendum. All of us are part of the "Stop the Charge Coalition". Find out more about how the charge will affect you, and download more information, leaflets and resources here. My own ballot paper arrived today, and I have filled it in ready to be posted back. I voted "No." This is an entirely postal election, so you need to send your vote ...
Arrggh!! After the fiasco when they took over Goldfish, during which they forcibly issued me with a new card (invalidating my old one) a day before I was going abroad on Holiday and when none of their new phone numbers worked so I couldn't ring them up to tell them, and with them being sneaky gits, now this! So, last night I finalise my big Xmas shop on Amazon (details of seperate Amazon trials to come!). I sent it all off and I later get an email saying their are problems with my card. I try it again, try re-entering ...
The Conservatives won a by-election in the Birchills Leamore Ward of Walsall Council last night.
Sir Ian Blair was forced, that's what he has told the BBC by London's and David Cameron's very own comedian and clown Boris Johnson. Now this is something interesting. Since taking up office a lot of Boris Johnson's staff have left the team and now this! Its today true that Boris is the Conservative 100 day free trial and the people need to look at the way he is running City Hall before they vote the Conservatives in the next general election. You can read more by following the link.
The first venue for the London 2012 Olympics has been completed - and it's not actually in London. The Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy will host the sailing events. The Today programme has just reported that it's designed to provide a "lasting legacy". Much better than the other kind....
I have a lot of sympathy with the Welsh Assembly's Rural Affairs Sub-Committee in its conclusions on the future of small schools. Ultimately the structure of education in a particular area is the responsibility of the local authority but the quality of that education must be the overriding factor. With falling pupil numbers and hundreds of sub-standard school buildings all around Wales change is inevitable. That change must take place in full consultation with local communities and having regard to good educational principles. Above all the process must be transparent and accountable at local and national level. That is why ...
It is noticeable that whenever the Government seeks to introduce an anti-terror measure or something that will reduce our liberties in the so-called 'national interest', we are reassured that checks and balances will be put in place so as to avoid new powers being abused. Either Parliament itself will oversee the process, or Ministers or we are told that we can trust the Police to be responsible. There is something very British about such assurances. Instinctively we think of ourselves as the good guys who respect and practice fair play. Accordingly we place our trust in the Government and the ...
This is from Politics Home... Mr Huhne said the arrest of Damien Green will "have a chilling effect" on what MPs are able to do, and added that he wasn't sympathetic to Sir Ian Blair's claim that he was hounded from office. On the arrest of Damien Green he said, "I was frankly shocked and astonished by this. It will have a chilling effect on what MPS are able to do. Getting information into the public domain...clearly of the public interest is absolutely a key part. I find this a very worrying development." On the departure of Sir Ian Blair, ...
WE WON!! I'm still on cloud nine and have to say that the tension was worse than waiting for my University Finals results to plop onto the door mat! We has a comfortable majority of almost 200 in the end, but so many times it was going one way and then the other. A glass of bubbly and then collapse into bed - this has been a very, very long day and would not have been possible without the army of wonderful Lib Dem supporters who turned out to help. Details to follow next weeks of a thankyou party! But ...
We know the Government's abused Anti-Terror legislation before - to deal with pesky old men at the Labour Party conference, for example. Yet most people don't care: It's implicitly understood that if you're not a muslim, you've got nothing to fear from Counter-Terrorism activities. Yet today the Government's crossed a new line - this time they've used these laws to search the home and office of an opposition MP, and arrest that man for the crime of embarrassing the Government. I'm not going to go into detail about this story because this is going to be well covered. I am ...
Following on from my post about 'I got a crush... on Obama' today I thought I'd share this video in which Black-Eyed Peas rapper will.i.am leads celebrities in a music video inspired by a speech Barack Obama delivered soon after the New Hampshire primary back in January 2008.
Packed with great stories, this is possibly Doctor Who's most brilliant year: three-year-old me starts watching with Tom Baker's debut story, Robot; The Ark In Space and The Sontaran Experiment give me wonderful far-future nightmares; Terror of the Zygons brings the best-ever one-off monster; deep space Planet of Evil and historical Pyramids of Mars pleasurably terrify me; even The Doctor Who Monster Book is published. And some say the Time War starts with: Genesis of the Daleks "Yes... I would do it. That power would set me up above the gods! And through the Daleks, I shall have that power!" ...
