One of the hottest potatoes in Welsh local government has been the issue of streetlighting and when to turn off. To date councils have offered seemingly random selections done the deed and waited for the howls of protest. However there is a different and more scientific approach. Almost every authority will have their streetlights stored within a geographic information system. In these cases it
But the journalist should have studied this page first.
Andrew Rawnsley has written a rather good op-ed in the Observer about the need to invest fiscal stimulus in public works rather than trying to pump it through consumer spending.
I have always liked this unlikely Christmas hit by Sal Solo (backed by choristers from the St Philip's Choir)from the 80s.
There is something excrutiating about being represented by Brian Coleman. I'm not so partisan that I cannot tolerate having MPs and Assembly members of other political parties. I've never particularly felt shame at being represented, through the years, by Jackie Lait, Gerald Kaufman, Hilary Benn (must stop namechecking Benns!), James Plaskitt or Rudi Vis. Yes, being represented by the Labour government's pet-filibuster-in-chief has been known to grate on occasion. But nothing - nothing - amounts to the shame in having Brian Coleman represent me in City Hall. The episode regarding gratuitously insulting Lynne Featherstone is just the latest in a ...
Everywhere we go people are saying "are you ready for Christmas", always expecting the answer "no, and I'm panicking"! However today has been a No Politics day (well just bits of casework). For us the most important bit of "getting ready for Christmas" is celebrating the Advent season, and one of the traditions at our Church is lighting a different candle each week on the advent ring. There is...
James Graham draws our attention to comments made by Lembit Opik in his new guise as a Daily Sport columnist. In a rather baffling statement he says the column is an attempt to reach out to 'real people'; "This is part of my own stated objective to reach beyond the normal political limits to people who may not be particularly interested in Parliament, but will find it interesting if the info is presented in a non-pompous or technical way. That's my goal, and I hope anyone who values the benefit of a politically informed society will agree with this approach. ...
The Evening Gazette has picked up the story of the Post Office closure now, and the fact that over 4000 homes in the ward don't have a Post Office. About 20 people braved the cold wind on Friday afternoon to take part in a photo for the Gazette and to tell the reporter their tales of why they need an accessible post office. Yarm PO being overcrowded, difficulties with parking, problems with the
No moving pictures this week, just some photographs and a recording by the most inexplicably unfulfilled talent of British pop music. "Walking Back to Happiness" was cheesy, "Don't Treat Me Like a Child traded too obviously on her youth, but this is a very good record. And it was made when Shapiro was only 14.More than that, Shapiro enjoyed phenomenal popularity early in her career. As Wikipedia tells it: In 1961, at the age of fourteen, she had two number one hits in the UK: "You Don't Know" and "Walkin' Back to Happiness"; and, indeed, her first four single releases ...
Oops, just been a plug for Robinsons as the supporters of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards. Surely not the BBC resorting to sponsorship for one of its prestige events? Oh, and congratulations to Chris Hoy
I am not going to comment, I just want to come back and read that blog title occasionally.
I wasn't going to blog about Lembit's new column (fnarr! fnarr! snork!) - I figure I've fulfilled my quota of Lembit bashing for the year. But then he went and said something stupid: "This is part of my own stated objective to reach beyond the normal political limits to people who may not be particularly interested in Parliament, but will find it interesting if the info is presented in a non-pompous or technical way. "That's my goal, and I hope anyone who values the benefit of a politically informed society will agree with this approach. "It's politics for real people, ...
When this crisis in Eastern Congo started EU leaders including Britain and France's foreign ministers spoke in a positive tone hinting at the possibility of sending EU forces. Well the EU pushed at the UN for the mission to take on more soldiers. However EU countries have done nothing, everyone is refusing to send troops. Ban Ki-moon has said how it will take up to 4 months for more UN soldiers to arrive (I would expect it to be more than that, they may never even reach the capacity they've asked for), in the meantime a humanitarian disaster is likely ...
The link is to a list of organisations (people) who have lost in the Madoff Ponzi Scheme. There is an important principle to remember in financial services (and life generally) which is that if something is "too good to be true", then most likely it either isn't good or it isn't true. This was one that wasn't true. I am surprised that this was not picked up by the SEC, however. This one will
And Mr Eugenides writes: I've had the pleasure of hosting the Roundup on several occasions, and it is no exaggeration to say that never have nominations been so entirely dominated by one story as they are this week.That story is the sad passing of Oliver Postgate.
Beveridge was not soft on work-dodgers, but he would not have approved of the government's scheme, as this article by Anne Johnstone in the Glasgow "Herald" newspaper shows.
Today marks the 90th anniversary of the first British general election in which women were able to vote and stand as candidates.
Touché.
Alex Foster on Lib Dem Voice has forwarded an appeal from Unlock Democracy for David Heath to use his Private Members' Bill for a Leaked Information (Accountability of Government) Bill. Now, I support Unlock Democracy. But can I say it would be raving bonkers to use his place in the ballot to back this. This is a rare opportunity for a Liberal Democrat MP to register a small ripple in the pond
One anniversay, two very different ways of covering it. The Today programme opted to mark the 90th anniversary of the first woman elected to the Commons by interviewing the son of a hereditary peer and his granddaughter. Both of them poured cold water over the idea of all women shortlists altough, this being Tony Benn, he then instantly contradicted himself by calling for a system of doubling up constituencies to ensure they were all 50% male and 50% female. Emily Benn, I'm afraid, rather drew my ire by describing herself as "post the 1970s, 1980s feminist agenda." So, that would ...
The Barclay Brothers recommended nine candidates for the recent elections to the new Sark government. Only two of those people were elected. Indeed, in an election with a 87.3% turnout, the 473 Sark electors seem to have sent out a very clear message. They actually elected nine out of twelve candidates which the Barclays identified in a newsletter as "establishment" and therefore not worthy of a
Via this charity website, I have just sent a donation for the Christmas appeal for those Sark residents recently thrown out of their jobs. The appeal is being run by The Submarine Charitable Trust which "was set up in Guernsey in 2005. The Trust is registered with the Association of Guernsey Charities and its charitable status is recognised by the States of Guernsey Income Tax Department." I
Christmas card and bone have arrived from my cousins in Greenland. Card brings the exciting news that one of the results of their referendum last month means that not only is Greenland becoming more autonomous from Denmark, but also that Greenland's vet services will now no longer be run from Denmark. Instead, they are being handed over to Greenland to look after (it's true!). Home rule for Greenland dogs is nearly upon us! Woof woof! And an extra wiggle of my tail!
Nick Bourne, leader of the Conservative Welsh Assembly Group, is facing moves to oust him following revelations about what he has been claiming on expenses. Wales on Sunday has the story: Nick Bourne was under mounting pressure to resign last night after it emerged he used taxpayers' cash to buy a £229 iPod. A fellow AM even refused to rule himself out of the running to be his successor if Mr Bourne, an AM for Mid and West Wales, does decide to go. His latest expenses claims show he bought an iPod music player - claiming it was to help ...
I have two srs bznss posts brewing in my head - one for here about Doctor Who and Liberalism, and one for LC about how it's vitally important for the liberal left NOT to present a united front at all costs. I also have to nag Mat to post his post about Brian Coleman. And I have to go to my mum's. So, obviously, I am participating in a fandom meme (via lizbee):The first five people to comment in this post get to request a sketch of a character/drabble/icon of a pairing or character(s) of their choosing from me. In ...
I think I must have watched a well above average number of episodes of Crossroads. So, Kathy Staff, for me, will always be Doris Luke. She went about with an extraordinarily glum expression on her face. Oh, did she play another character? Apparently. Indeed, as well as donning wrinkled stockings on umpteen occasions, Kathy Staff holds the unusual honour of having been in all three of that unholy
Further to what I was saying last night, can anyone explain to me why the Welsh Lib Dems seem to be making rather better use of the internet than we are in Scotland? On the Welsh Lib Dem site, every single elected parliamentarian has a website listed. And there are now sufficient numbers of bloggers for it to be worthwhile for them to have their own Welsh Lib Dem blog aggregator. This has 14 bloggers listed on it, including one from a parliamentarian, Peter Black AM, as well as new Welsh leader Kirsty Williams' leadership campaign blog. I hope now ...
The linked story in the Sunday Mercury is a case I have been dealing with for some time. It has been very difficult to get to the bottom of what happened and in fact we have failed to get all the information. The courts have lost their file. In the mean time, however we have managed to start an action which can be taken to the European Court. It will be an interesting one as it looks at the
Welcome to weekly catchup - in the week Lib Dem Voice did two amazing new things: published a book and hosted a live webchat with a member of the Lib Dem shadow cabinet. You can read the transcript of the webchat here and this link will give you lots of posts about The Tangerine Book, including sneak peeks at the cover artwork and the index, as well as links to lulu.com where you can buy a copy for yourself. It was also the week when we covered the news that Lord Jacobs had quit the party and Kirsty Williams had ...
Bathwick's next PaCT meeting is on Tuesday 16th December at 7:30pm in Bathwick St Mary's Primary School. PaCT meetings are hosted by the police with representatives of the council, councillors and other agencies. Residents are invited along to the public meeting to share their experiences and decide the top priorities for the area for the next six months. Priorities agreed at the last meeting were anti-social behaviour in Sydney Gardens, speeding and the need for pedestrian crossings. Since the last meeting, Bathwick has had an interim police beat manager, with a new one due to start in the new year. ...
Andrew Rawnsley, writing on Politics Home, reckons that they are; "These are frustrating and dispiriting times for the Lib Dems. Nick Clegg was the first to propose tax cuts, placing them up front and centre at his party conference. Vince Cable is Britain's most popular politician. Chris Huhne and Sir Menzies Campbell have been strong voices in the Damian Green Affair. And yet the Lib Dems feel squeezed in the opinion polls and often marginalised by the media.The spirit of Lib Dem MPs is the lowest of the three main parties according to our latest PHI100 Morale Tracker. Each month ...
Via The Guardian came the news this week that: Luxembourg's parliament ... moved to curtail the powers of the country's monarch, Grand Duke Henri, after he refused to sign a euthanasia bill into law. The 60-member legislature voted 56-0, with one abstention, to amend the constitution so that bills will no longer require Henri's approval before passing into law. The vote avoided a constitutional crisis and cleared the way for Henri to "promulgate" - or formally announce - the euthanasia and assisted-suicide bill after it gets final legislative approval on December 18... The law makes euthanasia and assisted suicide possible ...
Now that the applicants have withdrawn the application (temporarily) this meeting has been cancelled. This decision was taken at rather short notice. I have asked planning officers to write to those people who had letters from me about the meeting and I understand various e mails have also gone out. I don't 100 percent agree with the meeting being cancelled but I can see that it will be hard to provide proper answers when the application is off the table and the timescales are impossible to know. Given the short notice of cancellation, we have asked a rep from planning ...
I've promised not to reveal who the Lib Dems in Ross, Skye and Inverness West have selected as their new standard bearer at the next Holyrood election to replace retiring MSP John Farquhar Munro until the party announces it officially tomorrow. But I can reveal that the winner is a white, middle class male. But that's not exactly giving away a lot, given that all five of the people on the shortlist were white and broadly middle class and four out of five were male. And that continues a tradition for the Scottish Lib Dems in seats where a sitting ...
As Lib Dems we're proud of the welfare state. It might have been conceived under a Tory-led government and implemented under the great Labour Prime Minister Clement Atlee, but its origins go back to David "cash for peerages" Lloyd-George (or perhaps even to Asquith and C.B.) and the details were hammered out by Beveridge, a Liberal civil servant, so its ours, damn it. But that history doesn't make it perfect. We all know the welfare state and National Health Service have numerous issues. This week saw the government making an attempt to tackle some of them with yet another round ...
Today's Observer reports that more than 100 Labour MPs are to demand a one-off tax on energy companies for refusing to pass on recent sharp cuts in oil prices to millions of customers: Compass, the centre-left pressure group co-ordinating the campaign, expresses 'grave concern' at how the companies are continuing to charge higher rates imposed earlier this year, 'in spite of sharp falls in the world price of crude oil'. 'Since 2000, gas prices have risen 100 per cent and electricity 61 per cent. Correspondingly, energy providers' profits have risen from £557m in 2003 to over £5bn today,' it says. ...
Sun 14th
13:35
In the name of all that is decent - don't let X-Factor steal the Christmas Number One!
Just watched Alexandra Burke's massacre of Hallelujah on YouTube. What a travesty of a debacle. Is it too much to ask to have just a handful of songs not rendered into lowest common denominator soul pop pap? Why does everything have to be Mariah Careyised? Good gracious. This is how it should be done: If there is any justice in the world, Burke will be denied the Christmas number one. Now, I've looked into this, and apparently you don't rig the singles chart these days by charting an expedition down to Woolies any more (good thing too, all things considered); ...
Yesterday's Western Mail confirms what we already knew, that Nick Bourne's position as Welsh Conservative Leader is under threat from elements in his own group. There is more in today's Wales on Sunday, which says that momentum is building within the Conservative Party to push him out: His latest expenses claims show he bought an iPod music player - claiming it was to help him learn Welsh - a £119.99 trouser press, plus £5,003.46 worth of "essential work" on his bathroom. At least seven senior Tories are understood to want a change of leader. One political pundit said he could ...
LibDems Peter Black AM and Jenny Willott MP have warned that JobCentres are buckling under the weight of increasing unemployment. Peter said that "the government is relying too much on hard-pressed staff to clear up some of the mess their economic policies have helped create." While the government closed traditional employment offices (Cymmer, Glynneath, Pontardawe and Ystradgynlais in Neath Port Talbot alone), the much-vaunted New Deal continues to make a net loss to the taxpayer of between £40 and £1100, even after the gain in tax and benefits is taken account of. It should be remembered that these schemes were ...
A footnote to yesterday's post about Brian Coleman, who seems to think he knows better than the Fire Brigade about when people should call them - here is an extract from an email sent by the Fire Brigade Union to their London branches: The FBU's regional secretary for London, Joe MacVeigh, said, "Councillor Coleman needs to decide whether he wants to be a serious political figure or whether he wants to continue playing the role of complete buffoon. He holds a position of enormous responsibility, and he should be dignified and statesmanlike in everything he does. Instead, he blunders around, ...
Kirsty Williams has been true to her word in her successful leadership campaign. She is already making changes to the way Welsh Liberal Democrats are reaching out. An early step is the launch of a new blog aggregator, which brings all the party's bloggers under a single banner. We are happy to note that we are included, along with the blog of our chairman, Cllr Frank Little.
I posted a 'thank you' to Hornsey firefighters for coming out on a 999 call to my house a little while back - with a very brief description of what had happened. At the end of last week, Brian Coleman, Conservative Chair of the London Fire Authority was all over the media attacking me for doing so. Although the Fire Brigade says I did the right thing to call them out - and would only have sent firefighters if they thought it necessary - he says I should pay; that it was comparable with calling them out for a pet ...
{Appearing on Radio 4's The Westminster Hour with Carolyn Quinn} I'm back on The Westminster Hour tonight (Sunday): Radio 4, 10pm. If you miss the show you'll be able to listen again on their website. If you want to get advanced notice of my media appearances like this one, you can use the media events service at Flock Together. You've got three choices: Using this feed: or By email: register at FlockTogether and pick "Media appearances" as one of the categories of events you want to be emailed about. (If you are an existing Flock Together user you can ...
I suppose one has to say that the three companies involved are `the holy trinity`!
A glut of polls was expected this weekend as pollsters moved their activities forward to account for the Christmas break. Two more today with ComRes showing no change on it's 1% Conservative lead and YouGov showing a slightly increased 6% Tory advantage. It seems that the Conservatives, by wrongly focusing on the Damian Green affair, have frittered away their commanding advantage. We are defiantly out of the territory where a Cameron victory seemed like an inevitability and the only question was how big would the landslide be; Liberal Democrat support meanwhile remains pretty static. We are caught between somewhere between ...
Yesterday we announced that the LDV end-of-the-year awards are back, seeking your nominations for four categories relating directly to the Lib Dems: Politician of the Year, Campaigner of the Year, By-election Performance of the Year, and Most Desperate Press Release of the Year. Today, we're seeking nominations for the following four categories: The LDV 2008 Awards Liberal Voice of the Year Please nominate the individual, group of people or organisation which you believe has best promoted the cause of liberalism within the past year. NB: we are reserving this award for non-Lib Dems, so please do not nominate a known ...
Sun 14th
11:26
"According to political analysts, the road ahead for President Gore is not an easy one."
I didn't expect to see this: DEC 8 2008: WASHINGTON—In an unexpected judicial turnaround, the Supreme Court this week reversed its 2000 ruling in the landmark case of Bush v. Gore, stripping George W. Bush of his earlier political victory, and declaring Albert Arnold Gore the 43rd president of the United States of America.
Following on from my post about Conservative London Fire authority chair Brian Coleman yesterday (more here, here, here and here) Mark Pack draws attention to the man's apparent double standards with respect to public expenditure. Mr Coleman attacked Lynne Featherstone with all sorts of sexist language because she rang up the fire brigade, explained her problem and they decided to send a crew
Last night it was off to St Michael's Church in Highgate Village for the Christmas anthems and audience carols by the Highgate Choral Society, of which I am a patron. As ever - mulled wine and mince pies and beautiful singing by the Chorus and of course the audience. And there were some lovely organ solos as well.Particularly sweet, I thought, was that the first chorus of Away in the Manger, Ronald Corp who is the conductor (amongst many other competing titles in his CV) asked that only the children sing. And the very faint but very sweet little voices ...
Friday was our energy efficiency event in Wood Green. We had the Energy Savings Trust, benefits advisers, EAGA (the organisers for me), the fire service offering free fitting for smoke detectors and advice on safety, and so on. Those who came I hope will have received advice from the various agencies there that will help them save money on their fuel bills in particular. I ran a surgery for two hours and it was interesting that the people who came to me were not those who would necessarily have come to my usual weekly surgery. Made me think, that although ...
Figures released from the Government have revealed that although Jobcentre Plus services in Torbay and the South West are meeting most 'targets,' many people are still being let down by the service an...
The ComRes Poll is showing the same results from the previous poll by them giving the Conservatives a 1% lead over Labour but the YouGov paints a different image. If I was part of team Cameron, (which I don't want to be part of) I would try and get as much support by the general public before Christmas. If the ComRes shows a similar result after Christmas or even a Labour lead by 1% then a June general election might just happened!
This open letter dropped into our inbox earlier this week with a request to forward to Lib Dem members. Consider it done! Dear friend, David Heath MP (LD - Somerton and Frome) has just come 2nd in the Private Members' Ballot in Parliament. We are writing to you as fellow LDs to ask you to lobby him to adopt the Leaked Information (Accountability of Government) Bill - it is vitally important as it concerns the rights of members of parliament to hold the executive to account BACKGROUND You don't have to be a Tory to find Damian Green's arrest a ...
I assume that this story in the Telegraph last week was true: Muslim preacher Anjem Choudary has branded Christmas "evil" in a sermon posted on the internet. The lawyer, who recently praised the Mumbai terror attacks, urged all Muslims to reject traditional Christmas celebrations, claiming that they are forbidden by Allah.The 41-year-old shocked Christians and even those of his own faith by
For those who'd like to know what major rock bands expect from a venue, have a look at this on the Smoking Gun website. It's what Van Halen required..... and it's over 50 pages long. Hat tip : Andrew Sullivan.
If you click on the headline above, you can see the list of winners of the shops and children's window spotting competitions from this year's Christmas Week. All winners have been notified and the attached notice will shortly appear on the Community Council Noticeboard on Perth Road near Union Place and at the Magdalen Green Notice Board opposite Windsor Street.
Yesterday I was one of the guest speakers at a Liberal International/Friedrich Naumann Stiftung conference in Bangkok on 'Safeguarding Democracy: the case of Thailand and its regional/global impacts'. But the star turn in the morning was Abhisit Vejjajiva, the British-born and Oxford-educated leader of the Democrat Party of Thailand, who will almost certainly become [...]
Work was up and down today. Started with a run-in with Mr Racist - least said about that the better, I think - but ended well, with a few people who haven't been in for ages, and some good times all round. Turns out that one of the guys who used to be a regular before he moved to Sheffield is big mates with one of our local Lib Dem councillors, so that was pretty cool. Anyway, the title promises two cool things, so here they are. The first is from The Council of Ex-Muslims. Now, I don't agree with ...
Whatever thoughts crossed my mind that weren't worth a whole post. 22:19 wonders what the best insult would be for a new post about Brian Coleman AM. 7th Google result for him being my old 'tedious cock' post #Microblogging using LoudTwitter and Twitter. matgb_twitter is there if you're mad enough.
Scottish Lib Dem leader Tavish Scott has an interview in today's Sunday Herald. On the whole it's fairly unremarkable stuff and I wouldn't normally have bothered blogging about it. However, one phrase he used is worthy of comment, when he said that we needed to be "part of the YouTube generation". I agree with the sentiment, but we really need to match words with action. I blogged during the leadership election about the poor way in which all three candidates were using the internet. And I don't think much has changed since then. Tavish's own website is still as dull ...
