How fantastic, Alexandra has won the X Factor this year. She was my favourite, a really talented and thoroughly grounded individual- Congratulations! An extraordinary young woman, from a humble background who is a role model for young people across the UK. I watched it this evening with my kids, and we were in tears at the end. We then whooped with shock and fell off our chairs when the Mayor of Islington, my friend and colleague ,Cllr Stefan Kasprzyk, popped up to wish her well before the votes were cast. Stefan is the first Mayor of Polish background in London, ...
Lord Donoghue, who was senior policy adviser to Harold Wilson and Jim Callaghan, writes the diary in this week's New Statesman. He has two nice anecdotes: When I first joined the House in 1985 I dutifully dressed up and was seated for three hours next to Lord Joe Kagan, the menacing friend of Lady Falkender who was jailed for tax evasion.I later explained to a House official that I had spent some of my life trying to avoid jail and jailbirds and did not expect the Lords to bring me into such close contact. I haven't been to the Queen's ...
Three Royal Marines from 45 Commando based in Arbroath died today in Sangin Province when a thirteen year old boy, pushing a wheelbarrow, blew himself up. Will is in 45 Commando and on another day this would have been him out there on patrol. How on earth do these Marines protect themselves against schoolkids determined to kill themselves and everyone else around them? What sort of brainwashing
Conservative GLA member Brian Coleman has been in the news a bit today, criticising Lynne Featherstone for calling out the Fire Brigade when she feared that her boiler might be about to explode after it started making loud noises and shaking the house. Personally, that's exactly what I'd do in the same circumstances, and indeed that's what the Fire Brigade has said people should do. But what really intrigues me about Brian Coleman's attempt to score a political point (and he really should know better than rubbishing the Fire Brigade's own advice, what with being chairman of the Fire Authority) ...
Was speaker at the London Baby P march, petition presentation and rally today. This was basically a grassroots wave of expression of feelings - started by Tracy, Amanda and Antonia on Facebook - and escalating today into 17 marches across the length and breadth of the country. They handed in a 20,000 name petition to Downing Street and then marched on to Trafalgar Square to the rally. It poured with rain throughout - and I had thought that might reduce the numbers and atmosphere - but no - they were more determined than ever. There were a number of speakers ...
In the immortal words of Harry Hill, here's TV highlight of the week - no, its not the X Factor final tonight, but Eggheads - on BBC 2 at 5.40pm tonight. The "Cube Rooters" team from Dundee included Ian, our nephew, complete with this exchange with Jeremy Vine : Ian : "I know everything, yes." Jeremy Vine : "We've never had anyone say that before." Ian : "It's going to backfire." And so it proved ... but a spirited effort by the team from Dundee, nonetheless! You can see the programme on BBC iPlayer for the next few days by ...
There was me in the foulest of moods all day today, thanks to my car insurance company, which has buggered me around over a recent claim - not to mention the poor departed deer which did for my car in the first place and which, on balance, clearly came off worse. The kids have been bemoaning dad's lack of humour and generally keeping out of my way while I have stamped around looking cross. As for the cat, I doubt it will ever be the same again. I'll buy it a toy tomorrow... Imagine my surprise and pleasure, therefore, at ...
Information revealed in a Parliamentary answer has shown that seven years after the government committed £200million to children's play areas, only £40million has been spent. In fact, the government has now scaled back the total amount for playgrounds by almost a quarter, to £155million. Bath MP and Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Culture, Media and Sport Don Foster said,...
Bath MP Don Foster is calling for the Conservative-led Council to live up to its promise in June to investigate ways of supporting the remaining Post Office network in B&NES. Commenting Don said, "Although our campaign saved two local Post Offices in Bath, more needs to be done to support the remaining Post Offices and to campaign for a new one in the Southgate development. But...
Peter Bradwell, writing in the New Statesman, argues that it is high time human rights recognised the 'digital era we live in'. He argues that "our digital existences have become a new battlefield for our liberty and democratic principles." However, whether the plethora of new media that exists enhances our liberty is not clear for Bradwell. It is pretty axiomatic that there will always be countervailing tendencies within any medium and equally that governments will seek to establish control over something where it has little or none. Also, the 'fear factor' about some internet content makes the case for regulation ...
Your support is needed, whether you live in Hook or not. The Mayor for London is giving £4 million in grants to improve London parks. Ten parks will each receive £400,000. To our delight, our own King Edward's has been shortlisted. The process for selecting the winning parks seems to be modelled on X Factor, because you, the public, can vote for the...
Picture from Mark Pack over at LDV The person who owns this house really knows how to stop rubbish from the Tories falling into his/her letterbox. It is a problem to combat the rubbish especially because they have a lot of Lord Ashcroft's money to spend on c***. Maybe door stickers need to be marketed that say "No Tory Leaflets Please"!
Saturday: Ten Downing Street "issues statistics with insufficient attention to whether they are ready for publication" The Home Office "gives confidential off-the-record briefings to favoured journalists" Mr Damien Green "is helping the Police with their Inquiries under section 2 of the Official Secrets Act" .
Europe has historically been a bit of a red-herring for UK voters. Despite being an oddly heated issue with plenty of impassioned arguments made on both sides, it never actually mattered to most people before 9/11 and the Credit Crunch, probably the two defining moments of this the first decade of the 21st Century. Back [...]
Answer: because he is still settling old scores? Possibly. This morning Ken defended the record of Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Cressida Dick : "Cressida Dick is one of the most talented officers I have ever worked with," he said, adding that she had an "incredible record". I think that as the senior commander in charge of the Police operation of the Jean Charles de Menezes killing her 'incredible record' in the handling of this case has been a complete disaster! During the trial of the Metropolitan Police over the shooting, the prosecution claimed Cmdr Dick made a string of strategic mistakes, ...
A few posts ago I wrote about how Tory run Preston Council had banned swearing on the streets. Just yesterday I spoke to someone who spends a lot of time in Preston and he brought to my attention that they have put signs up. Preston Council have started to decorate the streets with signs that tell people they are not allowed to swear in the streets. Hopefully next week I will have a picture to share with you of these signs. An award needs to be given to Preston Council for creating one of the most silliest local government policies ...
{No Tory or pizza leaflets sign}
The Liberal Democrats in Blackburn have selected Councillor Paul English to take on Jack Straw at the next general election. Cllr English is a very experienced politician and currently is the Leader of Skipton Town Council, he was approached by the North West party to become a candidate. You can read the news article by following the link. For many years Jack Straw has not listened to the people of Blackburn and has just done what he has wanted. Jack Straw will get a massive blow at the next general election, and who knows? The Lib Dems might get Cllr ...
I read Lynne Featherstone's posting about her frightening "hammer airlock" experience and then thought nothing more of it. So it was some surprise to see that the posting featured on BBC Politics after Tory London fire authority chair Brian Coleman had attacked Lynne for calling the fire brigade to this incident. It really is disgraceful for Coleman to use this incident to make gratuitously
Am indebted to Lynne Featherstone for reminding me that today is the 90th anniversary of women first casting their votes in a General Election in this country. It's hard to believe that it's less than a century since over half of the population were barred from voting simply because they had the wrong sort of genitalia. And it's saddening that we're still fighting battles to achieve equality today. I am grateful to my forebears for fighting these battles on my behalf. Mary Wollstonecraft, and John Stuart Mill, and Emmeline Pankhurst, and the pioneering Garretts... I am very lucky that they ...
Putting aside laughably exaggerated and (initially on their website and in the printed edition) inaccurate "reporting" by the Newbury Weekly News, this week's story about Trinity School reveals quite a lot about the Conservative controlled West Berkshire Council. Consultation? Forget it. They've just announced a "super head" and are about to axe the governing body without any warning or even a
... and didn't even turn on the PC when I got into the house. I therefore have a bit of catching up to do.RIP Bettie Page :(PPC has asked for further details on what will be involved in being interviewed for LC - although she may, of course, scream and run away upon reading the details, this is not an outright "no" and thus I am happyAndrew Lawston is the luckiest fanboy on earth. pmoodie, you will die, DIE of jealousy.Fabulous entry about how to code for the various types of marriage which ought to be allowed.I think that's all ...
The barbed wire around the Council of Ministers' building has been taken away and the nerves of yesterday have been replaced by a pleasurable sense of achievement. Europe's prime ministers yesterday agreed a series of measures known as the climate change and energy package, intended to reduce CO2 emissions by 20% by 2020 (30% if international agreement is secured) through energy saving, increased renewable energy provision, and investment decisions shaped by the EU's emissions trading scheme. Messy compromises were needed to win the support necessary, yet the deal still represents the most advanced series of measures agreed anywhere in the ...
The UK Statistics Authority has accused the government of releasing "premature, irregular and selective" figures which appeared to prove that knife crime in the UK was falling. The Authority's chair Sir Michael Scholar has written to the Permanent Secretary at Number 10 as follows: These statistics were not due for publication for some time, and had not therefore been through the regular process of checking and quality assurance. The statisticians who produced them, together with the National Statistician, tried unsuccessfully to prevent their premature, irregular and selective release. I hope you will agree that the publication of prematurely released and ...
So its not as bad as we thought it'd be. Until Admiral Mullen's intervention and the NIE many people thought Bush would attack Iran after the November election but before President 44's inauguration (see graph below from intrade for what the betting market thought the probability of a strike on Iran by the US or Israel before the end of 2008). Instead, he buggering around with car bailouts (Obama would do this anyway) but also continuing to make a hash of Iran and nuclear policy. {Price for US/Israeli Overt Air Strike against Iran (Rule 1.8 Applies) at intrade.com} His administration ...
Egged on by a member of OUTeverywhere (LGBT social networking site) I posted a poll saying "Do you agree with Alistair Darling that economic recovery will begin in the second half of 2009?" - the answer no 46 - yes 11. `nuff said
The Independent reports today that Gordon Brown has been rebuked by the statistics watchdog for his "irregular and selective" use of knife crime figures. Both the Prime Minister and Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, trumpeted a report apparently showing stabbings had fallen by a quarter in areas where police stepped up searches of young people. However, Sir Michael Scholar, head of the UK Statistics Authority, has protested that figures put out on Thursday had not been checked and warned that putting them out prematurely was "corrosive of public trust". Thank goodness that the Prime Minister has announced the end of ...
Last year, we asked Lib Dem Voice readers to nominate, and then vote for, your Liberal Voice of the Year: the winner was Shami Chakrabati. This year, the LDV end-of-the-year awards are back, and they're bigger and better than ever before. In total, there are eight categories for which we're seeking nominations; the LDV Collective will draw up and publish the short-lists; and then seek your votes via a poll run according to the single transferable vote. How impeccably liberal can you get? Today, we're seeking nominations for the following four categories which relate directly to the Liberal Democrats: The ...
We hear a lot about debt - personal debt in Britain is well over a trillion pounds; the Labour government are plunging the country into enormous debt in order to try and soften the recession; and then of course there's council debt. I've been saying for years that the level of debt that the council [...]
This morning, I was down at HMS Discovery to support the latest fundraising initiative by the "Riverside Boys" West End junior football team. The boys and their parents are undertaking a sponsored walk across the Tay Road Bridge today raise funds for the team and, as you can see above, despite today's rainy weather, there was a good turnout of team members! Until Riverside Boys was formed, there was no West End Under 10s team that covering the whole area of the West End and its been good to see the youngsters from various of our local primary schools get ...
Hail the technocrat in chief! All hail the dictator of the economy! The world is his! His time is now! All praise be unto him! Thank goodness we've got Hank Paulson. If he hadn't managed to force Congress to give him all that money and all that power without oversight then our great technocratic overlord would not be able to act in such a swift an decisive way. We don't need Congress. We have Paulson. He can change his mind whenever he wants - hey, facts change. His complete analysis and strategy can alter month to month - but hey, ...
This may seem like something of a side-issue but this is raised in a couple of places this morning. MP's leave Westminster next week for a 24-day holiday which is the longest winter recess for more than a decade. It does seem rather indecently long and does nothing to really improve the reputation of politics in general. Conservative MP Peter Luff, quoted on Conservative Home, is right to say; "We still need to properly debate the economic situation. There are so many issues, so much legislation that needs scrutiny, and all we get is a longer holiday." Obviously the rather ...
I've always found the practice of charging people £30 or £40 for the crime of not being able to pay a Direct Debit, or Cheque somewhat morally dubious. In order to create 'Free Banking' - as in, Current Accounts without a fixed monthly fee to cover the operating costs - it was decided that the costs could be recovered from a much smaller minority of undesirable customers who, typically, do not have the financial resources to be sold further financial products (that's loans and credit cards for non-bankers). They are the customers that are unlikely to be able to open ...
Earlier this week, the BBC reported that a third of a billion pounds has been wiped off the total value of Child Trust Funds as a result of recent plunging share values. The government argue that share investments still show a better rate of return than other forms of investment over the longer term - and historically speaking they're right. So I guess we'll just have to hope the economic norms of the last seventy-to-a-hundred years continue for as long as is required by Labour policy-makers. In the here and now, Vince has some pertinent commentary, as reported by Channel ...
The link is to the Queen's Speech debate on Children. 15 months ago I was the only person publicly raising concerns about "false negatives" in child protection where the system was failing to protect children. Now it is one of the key news items. The government are still unclear as to the dimensions of the problem although Ofsted have produced some figures. During the debate I obtained the
Yesterday the result of the UK's largest referendum in over thirty years was announced when the proposal for a £3 billion investment in Manchester's public transport, to be partly funded by a congestion charge, was soundly defeated by nearly four-to-one. The people have spoken and, for Manchester, the debate now moves on. All political parties have a big problem with referendums. They're marvellous when you're on the winning side and the Great British public agree with you; not so good when the unwashed masses get the answer wrong. In Manchester the referendum engaged large numbers of people in the democratic ...
Cast your mind back to the 2005 General election. Remember the slogans the parties brought out. "Are you thinking what we're thinking" ('fraid not), "the real alternative" (if only), and my personal favourite for its assault on the English language, "forward not back". "Forward not back" is not even English. Its so stupid it makes your eyes bleed. Well, Sudan's President and international pariah (except in China and some Arab states) appears to have the same PR consultant as New Labour. Look at the poster in the background of the above photo. The slogan reads "no backward but forward". As ...
East Ayrshire UA, Ballochmyle Full details not yet available Lab hold Turnout 29%. Fenland DC, Parson Drove and Wisbech St Mary Con 512 (50.6; -49.4) LD Gavin Booth 208 (20.6; +20.6) Lab 190 (18.8; +18.8) Green 101 (10.0; +10.0) Majority 304 Turnout not known Con hold Percentage change is since May 2007 (Con unopposed) Hillingdon LBC, Northwood Con 1216 (64.4; -1.20) LD Alan Prue 466 (24.7; +
One of the iconic features of the Kilburn High Road is Woolworths - it's true for many high streets and shopping areas but for Kilburn there is an added poignancy. Ian Drury started off in Kilburn, he went to the Kilburn State as a boy and one of his first ever albums shows him photographed in front of the Kilburn High Road Woolworths. His first band was Kilburn and the High Roads and the first album for the Blockheads featured Woolies... Now the demise looks likely we lose more than just Woolworths. The BBC sites was today reporting this: "In ...
In the rapidly unfolding saga that is the Oxford City Council Labour administration's desperate attempt to balance next year's budget they are resorting it would appear to a fire sale of community owned assets - principally leisure centres and community owned buildings such as the Northway Centre. They are also proposing closing council owned public lavatories across the city to save money. When I stood for election in Northway in May, Labour's campaigners were more interested in my views on the murderous public policy that is drugs prohibition than in my own ideas for redeveloping the Northway Centre under the ...
