"Under this Government, Britain will not return to the boom and bust of the past." Pre-Budget Report, 9th November 1999 "Britain does not want a return to boom and bust." Budget Statement, 21 March 2000 "Mr Deputy Speaker, we will not return to boom and bust." Budget Statement, 7 March 2001 "As I have said before Mr Deputy Speaker: No return to boom and bust." Budget Statement, 22 March 2006 "And we will never return to the old boom and bust." Budget Statement, 21 March 2007 Hat-tip to Eamon Butler for pulling all these together. I'm sure that there were ...
You have probably noticed the excellent children's art on the hoardings around the new Yate Health Centre building. We featured some here the other week. These murals by Broadway Infant School are next to the toilets that are about to be demolished, so we thought we would show them here in case they disappear (hopefully not) Wouldn't it be good to good to have some public art - by children, local artists etc - prominently on show on a regular basis?
The Bath Chronicle cleverly anticipated this as a slow news week, so carefully prepared a list of their own new year awards. All I can do now is link to it and ask to scroll down to 'politician of the year' (it's me by the way)
I'd hoped to do another proper post today, but exhaustion is getting the better of me (for some reason I didn't sleep last night, and I've done a couple of longer-than-normal days at work this week). I also owe p(il)lo(c)k at least two comments and an email, which will have to wait until I'm coherent... From [...]
This article about a computer games publisher is interesting. He is offering a free copy of his game to MPs and Members of Congress as well as to candidates for 'real' elected office. He wants them to practice governing before they do so for real. Yes, it's publicity for his game and yes, the outcomes depend on the prejudices inherent in the game (as one commentator wrote - if a communist wrote the game then anyone playing as a capitalist would lose). But it might be fun for the political anoraks among us. (Hint, if you are reading this then ...
I have just got back from the public meeting organised by the West Hill Residents' Association at Castledown Primary School on the subject of the proposed communal bins. I have to say I was astounded at the turnout on such a cold night. It was massive. The most important piece of news to report is that due [...]
By the time this piece gets published on the Observer website, there will be five days remaining in which to make your submission about communal bins. It's not the sexiest of subjects, but refuse collection and recycling are part of the daily stuff of our lives, and getting the service right is important to our community. I [...]
Ethiopia has a twisted, evil Government. The parliament has just imposed strict restrictions, which will stop them from campaigning on behalf of children and the disabled! NGOs are banned from: • The advancement of human and democratic rights • The promotion of equality between peoples, sexes or religions • Campaigning for children's rights or the rights of the disabled • Conflict resolution and reconciliation • Work on criminal justice issues. Now there is opposition in the parliament that voted against this. It's an opposition that has suffered much. Ethiopia also suffers from severe famine, partly due to bad governance. In ...
Welcome to the 98th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (28th December 2008 - 3rd January 2009), together with a hand-picked quintet, mostly courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. New year, old custom: let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down. 1. Another success for Will Howells, Guitar Tutor on Helen Duffett's Paint the town Orange blog. Well done, Will et al. You're all Guitar Heroes to me. 2. On Rennard, money and the BBC on John's Liberal Revolution ...
If you've ever thought standing for election in Britain waas difficult, imagine what it's like in Russia. I met some people from Yabloko, one of the Russian opposition parties, in the autumn. One of them is trying to get elected to St Petersburg Council. Assuming, of course, the post-Soviet bureaucracy ever accepts her nomination papers: "I came to the election committee of my municipalty. I was the only one who came to them that day so they were talkative and rather welcome. They enjoyed showing me endless list of docs needed for registration (application form, special form filled with all ...
Michael Crick of Newsnight has obtained the minutes of a Tory Central Office meeting which reveals that there is a special "watch-list" of Tory PPCs who "have the potential to embarrass the party". Central Office high command are keeping an eye on them with the option of de-selection if necessary. They are also worried about "awkward associations". The Conservative Party high command is so
Via James Graham: This is probably little more than pre-election nerves, but Michael Crick has been having fun with it: The Conservative Party high command is so worried about some of David Cameron's Parliamentary candidates that they've started holding meetings every two weeks to monitor what they call a "watch-list" of those "have the potential to embarrass the Party". The interesting thing about this is a) what does it say about CCHQ morale that the minutes got leaked in the first place and b) what do they mean by "potentially embarrassing"? Based purely on anecdote (and admittedly I am hardly ...
Before you watch it, you probably had better take a look here - otherwise it might all seem a bit confusing. But once you've taken a look, listen away: That was fun! Woof woof. Woooooooooooooooof.
We've just moved house, not far from the last one (still in Park Ward) and tomorrow would have been our bin day. However I can see no sign of any bins out on the street. Remembering that I had seen something on the council website with a list of street names and days I tried to find it. First I came across the GIS site run jointly with the County Council. This can tell me who is my MP, MEP, County and City Councillors, where the nearest Library, Doctor or Recycling Centre is. However for the day of bin collections ...
It might be worth watching this before indulging in any two-part encomiums for Che Guevara. Not sure about the diversion into Mao, but the theme song's pretty funny, too.
What an odd sight to see David Cameron making an announcement yesterday on tax which was based on what the Tories would do if they were in power now, not noticing that they are not actually in power now. But more odd was the the shadow chancellor, Gideon Osborne sat on meekly watching as David Cameron made an announcement on taxation. It spoke volumes about what the Tories think of Osborne.
This evening I am attending a meeting of the Safer Reading Campaign in my capacity as Lib Dem Safer Communities spokesperson. On the agenda tonight is an update by Thames Valley Police on the impact of the roll-out of Neighbourhood Policing - something I requested at the July meeting. My Lib Dem colleagues and I have concerns about Neighbourhood Action Groups, a key plank of Neighbourhood Policing, not being adequately supported by RBC and TVP. We have a number of NAGs in Redlands and in some areas the number of local residents attending has slumped, partly because meetings are not being well advertised. Why? because NAGs have ...
Not long after he was elected president, Barack Obama spoke of the "shock" and "trance" syndrome, that brings panic and then paralysis over America's reliance on fossil fuels. Britain (and most of the world) was in "shock" about climate change for a few years. But the credit crunch and the economic recession have now caused a climate "trance". A trance? In this, of all years. A new global deal on emissions targets needs to be reached at December's UN climate change conference in Copenhagen. I have picked up this issue today, in a post on Liberal Democrat Voice.
Today I received an email from a friend and colleague who I shall not name asking me to sign a petition to end the violence that has been started by the Israeli's. I think that all petitions and campaigns that are set up are at least doing something or another to get some attention to the cause. With this in mind I would urge all blog readers to follow the link to the petition and sign it, please pass the link and message on and lets make these campaigns a success and end the violence in Gaza!
I am going to try and continue the work that Tim Ireland started and then just left to die with the political weblog project. Please follow the link to the website that I have set up and inform your politicians, if you want to suggest a politician to me who you think I should confront with the project then do let me know!
I received a letter from the Council inviting me to make representations as part of the annual budget making process. I thought good on you for asking, and this is what I have submitted. ...
I was never in favour of the FSA banning short-selling so am relieved they've decided to let the ban expire. I blogged about this back in September when the ban was introduced, pointing out that short-selling acts like the proverbial canary in a mine. It alerts the market to who's going to go bust next. Recessions are miserable and painful (especially if you're looking for a first serious job in
The Daily Mirror reports today that Tony Blair is to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the USA's highest civilian award) from George Bush next week: Mr Blair, to the anger of many British voters, was one of the staunchest allies of the US, particularly over the invasion of Iraq and following the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. "White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said President Bush is honouring Mr Blair, Mr Howard and President Uribe "for their efforts to promote democracy, human rights and peace abroad"." Commenting on the award, Sarah Teather, Liberal Democrat MP for Brent East said, ...
Alan Cochrane in the Daily Telegraph reports that the The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party have changed their name and are now known simply as The Scottish Conservative Party. Will the Welsh Tories follow suit?
When blame finally does become an issue for the current economic mess then regulators will be scrutinised heavily. I can't help but feel the Financial Services Authority decision to lift the ban on short-selling UK shares will not be looked upon kindly in that light. Short-selling is when investors borrow shares in a company which they then sell in the hope of buying them back later at a lower price. So, surely Cable is right to say banks will now be able to 'gamble against the tax payer' who has just lashed a considerable amount on trying to save the ...
No, this isn't a reference to our favourite elephant but congratulations to two stalwarts of the Scottish blogging scene, Jeff and Fraser who today have made their thousandth posts on their blogs. I like reading both of them and hope that they're good for at least another thousand posts. LibDig This!
Commenting on news that Tony Blair is to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George Bush next week, Liberal Democrat Shadow Foreign Secretary, Edward Davey said: "Tony Blair should be spending next week helping to fix the mess in Gaza, not receiving an award for the biggest foreign policy disaster in recent history and his silence over Guantanamo Bay." ...
Responding to today's Government announcement of a consultation on forcing the gambling industry to fund problem gambling services, Liberal Democrat Shadow Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, Don Foster said: "The delay in providing proper gambling addiction services in this country has been a disgrace." "Ministers have repeatedly turned a blind eye to the problems...
1) Pardis Mahdavi, Passionate Uprisings: Iran's Sexual Revolution (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2009, ISBN 9780804758567). An Iranian anthropologist (trained and mainly resident in the US) presents seven years of qualitative research into the sexual behaviour, attitudes and dress codes of young Tehranis and their parents. She touches on homosexuality and bisexuality more briefly than I would have liked, although it is clear from the interviews she does set out that both are present (and female bisexuality possibly quite widespread) amongst her informants; she states that these issues require a wider study. She does not address transgender at all, possibly for ...
On Thursday Bath MP Don Foster will meet the owners of several of Bath's smaller businesses to discuss the impact of the credit crunch and to hear their views about ways in which they could be help through the current crisis. In advance of the meeting, I was pleased to go with Don on Monday he visited Twerton Firm Astra Circuits Ltd which manufactures printed circuit boards. The firm,...
This is probably little more than pre-election nerves, but Michael Crick has been having fun with it: The Conservative Party high command is so worried about some of David Cameron's Parliamentary candidates that they've started holding meetings every two weeks to monitor what they call a "watch-list" of those "have the potential to embarrass the Party". The interesting thing about this is a) what does it say about CCHQ morale that the minutes got leaked in the first place and b) what do they mean by "potentially embarrassing"? Based purely on anecdote (and admittedly I am hardly unbiased), they do ...
We have recently launched a major campaign in Scotland to "Save Our Forests" led by Jim Hume MSP, who served recently as a member of the Forestry Commission's South of Scotland Regional Forestry Forum and for six years a Trustee of the Borders Forest Trust. The SNP are proposing to lease out 25% of the Forest Estate, but it is the most productive part - so according to the Forestry Union this would equate to 40% of the £41.4million income the Forestry Commission receives from timber sales. It would leave behind a very weak Forestry Commission (FC). The FC was ...
Nothing was a better antidote to the Xmas cold this holiday than curling up on the sofa for a morning and watching the Mama Mia! DVD. Yes, I know, I'm probably the last woman on the planet to watch it but what a feast for winter eyes.. all that sun-kissed sand and song, great cast and romcom plot..good medicine for the soul indeed. Have been catching up with the backlog of Xmas tv taping that seems to pile up as far to busy to watch tv properly during the hols. (TV hogged by younger generation...)The youngest has been nagging me ...
I'm saddened to see that there has been no let up in the Israeli assaults on Gaza. Then again, why should there be when they are getting away with such indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks? They need an incentive to re-think what they are doing, otherwise more innocent lives will be needlessly lost. LibDig This!
So BT ring me - one of the perils of a brief period of self employment is you get the spam calls during the day - and a rather pleasant South African voice gives me wonderful news: Can they cut the cost of my broadband for me? Hey, sounds good! So he explains the deal: They'll knock £2.50 off the cost of my broadband, reducing it to £22.50, and in return I just need to agree to sign up for another 12 months. Alright so to save £2.50 a month I need to agree to be ripped off for another ...
I originally posted this on Lib Dem Voice, but I had so much fun writing it I thought I'd put it here too. Disclaimer: The following post does not represent my own views, but rather a question I've always wanted answered. Geoffrey Payne wrote: I do not want to be misunderstood in this sense. I think there [...]
This is the 1 000th blog article at http://www.dundeewestend.com/ (and its mirror site http://www.westendblog.org.uk/) since the blog started just short of three years ago in March 2006. Nearly 153 000 visitors later, I am most grateful to everyone who regularly reads the site and also to everyone who has e-mailed me with comments and issues, particularly those related to West End of Dundee matters. Feedback is always gratefully received at westend@frasermacpherson.org.uk.
The refusal towards the end of 2008 by the Scottish Government to allow outline permission for a cemetery at Linlathen has meant that the City Council administration is anxious to investigate other options to ensure there is adequate supply of burial sites in the City in the future. A report seeking authority to progress matters in terms at looking at costs/feasibility of a site north of the West Pitkerro Industrial Estate will come before the committee I chair (Planning and Transport) next Monday - and also before the Leisure, Arts and Communities Committee. The Council has issued a news release ...
Following pressure from the Friends group and from local Lib Dem Councillors, the boiler in the South Lambeth Library has been repaired. We hope this will mean the library does not keep having to close its doors this month, as happened often throughout December. When library staff used temporary electric heaters, the extra load was too much for the library's out-dated wiring and the lights went out. Which meant the library had no heat or light for part of December. What is really needed is for the 20 year old boiler to be replaced with a new more energy efficient ...
This obviously depends where you live in the Country, But as I was asking the question of how to dispose of my toner cartridges in Bath & North East Somerset I was kindly sent the following information of which I hope you will find as helpful as I have. Paper (including Yellow Pages) Most types of paper including newspaper, magazines, catalogues, directories, Yellow...
Britain (and most of the world) was in "shock" about climate change for a few years. But the credit crunch and the economic recession have now caused a climate "trance". A trance? In this, of all years. A new global deal on emissions targets needs to be reached at December's UN climate change conference in Copenhagen. Not long after he was elected president, Barack Obama spoke of the "shock" and "trance" syndrome, that brings panic and then paralysis over America's reliance on fossil fuels. Andrew Revkin, of the New York Times' Dot Earth blog, has traced two international climate "shocks" ...
This morning, the temperature indicator installed on my car for no apparent reason informed me that it was six degrees below zero. This is a new record which delighted my geeky and statistics-loving brain. Unfortunately the statistic didn't delight my frozen fingers as they tried to unlock a stuck door, or my cold hands and feet as they tried to control my Peugeot as it slithered across the frozen wasteland that my street had turned into. However (Look out ahead!! Awful pun alert!), the weather has been much sunnier for the residents of Sunny Drive in the ward, who will ...
Finally, the Senate election in Minnesota appears to be over!
A big problem for many people in the Oval and Kennington area is having to get on packed buses each morning to get to work. Often by the time the buses get to our part of London they are already packed out! The good news is that Transport for London have confirmed that the No 59 bus service (runs through the Oval area from Streatham Hill to King's Cross) will get at least two extra buses an hour at peak travel times, and extra buses throughout the day. The Not-So-Good News is that the extra buses will not be implemented ...
OK so I suppose at least John Prescott has decided to do an online video. But I am not entirely sure that this is going to help Labour win their council by-election in Hull this Thursday. It is clear that their (quite possibly normal) candidate starts off on-script, but John Prescott's random mutterings throughout the rest [...]
Today's Financial Times has an interesting enough article by Alex Barker analysing Nick Clegg's first year (and a bit) as Lib Dem leader. Noting some of the tougher moments, it also highlights Nick's achievements (albeit by resorting to the usual, simplistic right/left labels so likely to irritate Lib Dems): His authority has also proved strong enough to oversee a fundamental shift in direction. Under him, the party has pivoted to the right, shedding decades of dogma on tax and public services. Clegg is for tax cuts and a smaller state. On the offensive, the political focus has turned from marginal ...
Just in case people are in doubt this is the one with text unlike the one Blogger kindly published without. The first thing of note to my mind is that we would be wrong to underestimate their appeal to a certain constituency. I have seen numerous 'Cost of living' surveys expressing concern about the issues facing savers and abolishing tax on savings for basic rate payers will appeal to those voters who express those concerns. Demographically, they are likely to appeal to what is a core Conservative constituency; ie, older voters who actually have savings to worry about and who ...
My latest column for the New Statesman has been posted on the magazine's website:"Trainspotting may be an activity of limited, and indeed questionable, appeal, but it is not a criminal offence and it is not a terrorist threat."When did this innocent activity become such anathema? Baker would not have felt a need to be condemnatory if he had been, say, defending sadomasochists against Jacqui Smith's goons.
For the sake of Israel, the attack on Gaza must stop Tuesday, 06 Jan 2009 02:01 Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Ed Davey MP writes on the Israeli-Hamas conflict on inthenews.co.uk. A true friend is someone who's prepared to tell you when you're wrong or you've made a mistake - even when they know that message may not immediately help your friendship. With its current massive attack on Gaza, Israel is clearly wrong. Worse still, it's in danger of making a historic mistake. In criticising Israel's bombing, no-one is making light of the rocket attacks its civilians have endured for ...
NoiseTube looks interesting. It's a way to use mobile phones (currently Nokia N95, iPhone soon) to map noise pollution, which makes a change from using mobile phones to create noise pollution. I've signed up.
LONDON, Jan 5 (Reuters) - British retailer Marks & Spencer is set to cut more than 1,000 jobs in stores, its head office and support functions following disastrous Christmas trading, The Times web-site reported on Monday. The newspaper said the iconic high street chain would announce the cuts on Wednesday, when it is due to release a trading update to the City. A spokeswoman for M&S declined to comment. The news comes as retailers across the board are expected by analysts to announce terrible sales figures over Christmas, while some, such as Ireland's Waterford Wedgwood on Monday, have called in ...
Israel/Palestine is awash with peace missions from Europe at the moment, all urging a ceasefire in the current conflict in Gaza. Tony Blair, the Madrid Quartet's (bizarrely chosen) Middle East peace envoy has not been on holiday (as Gordon Brown rather cattily said on British television over the weekend), but shuttling between Jerusalem and [...]
Simon Wright has today launched a petition calling for an independent inquiry into events surrounding the Greyhound Opening housing scandal.
• UK living standards set to slump • 43% of small businesses expect to cut jobs in new year Britain's standards will fall to the lowest level of any major economy in 2009 as recession and the plunging pound take their toll, new research by consultancy Oxford Economics reveals. As recently as 2007, Britain was at the top of the heap, with GDP per capita - measured at market exchange rates - exceeding that of America for the first time since the Victorian era. Consumers rode a decade-long wave of prosperity, snapping up holiday homes in the Dordogne and bargains ...
Towards the end of 2008 Jack Allen Holdings (the company that put in the planning application for the huge waste facility on Garston Docks) withdrew the plans. The company said it would be resubmitting them. We are all now waiting for the next move. I can't see the new plans differing hugely from the old ones, but there may well be some differences. We (the councillors in Cressington) were concerned that people might have to spend a lot of time looking for these differences, but we have asked planning officers to get Jack Allen to make any changes obvious. Personally ...
It has been announced by leading Japanese companies yesterday that due to the weakening of the Pound that many imported high tech products will now face a "price increase" of up to 20%. Could the government have known in advance when reducing the VAT rate to 15%! Announced in BJP 5/1/09 latest news section quote: "Nikon, Canon, Sony and Leica are all expected to raise their prices in January as the pound continues to fall in value. Nikon has confirmed to BJP that it is to implement a price increase across its range of imaging and optics products, effective on ...
So I've written about how banks decide who gets credit. I've explained how the credit crunch reduces the number of people who will be able to get access to borrowing. I also said that, many years ago, my first job with HBOS (or what was Halifax Plc back then), was sat on a helpdesk fielding calls from branch staff and customers who'd been "declined" credit. This is the time when my heart was turned into a cold, black lump. Some people, for whatever reason, believe that banks are some kind of social service. Contrary to this popular belief, how much ...
Alot of Israeli propaganda in the conflict has been focused around trying to convince the international community that it is doing it best for Gaza's civilians. The reality of Israel's position is however it is doing just enough so it can say it is doing something; but the evidence is stacking up that it is doing nowhere near enough. The International Herald Tribune carries a report on the comments of Pierre Kraehenbuehl, the head of operations for the International Red Cross. Since the Red Cross is clearly a neutral party it is hard for those who deny the damage Israel ...
{IMG_4520} Happy New Year! I hope you had a good break. I certainly needed it: after a frenetic few months I was grateful for a brief respite from campaigning. Anyway, back to work this week and lots to do. Visiting a constituent on Sunday I was disappointed to see that the dumped fridge on Eldon Terrace which I reported to the Council for removal before Christmas was still there. As regular readers of this blog will know, Eldon Terrace in the heart of the beautiful Eldon Square conservation area is sadly an established fly-tipping hotspot. We've been reporting problems here for about a year, ...
The idea of national energy independence has been commonly cited in US politics over many years but has not resonated so strongly in the UK to date. A number of factors might now make this a much more compelling policy. Oil prices have clearly been a huge problem over the last year and, while they have now fallen, it is hard to see how they will not rise again whenever economic growth picks up in the major economies. Now we are yet again seeing threats to gas supplies from Russia just as winter is starting to bite. On the more ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7811408.stm The basic gist of this story is that a Scottish MP (Ian Davidson) is criticising the Scottish Government for pledging (or appearing to pledge, as the facts are being "checked") £17.5m to help secure a painting for a gallery. I was waiting for these sorts of stories to rear their head. During times when money is tight, the Arts are often squeezed. They are an "invisible" (in terms of political benefits, anyway, since all the Arts are obviously visible), seemingly "useless" area of a Government's responsibility. And so, when people see massive amounts of money being spent on the ...
Author and humorist, Chris Foote Wood, who achieved a year-long "Pier crawl" around every seaside pier in Britain, promises to give an entertaining illustrated talk and answer questions at Redcar Library on Tuesday, January 13 at 2pm. Tickets, priced £2.50 and including afternoon tea, are available from all Redcar and Cleveland Council libraries.
Following complaints by constituents about the state of some of the boundary fencing on the rail line in the West End, Network Rail has confirmed to me that it will undertake inspections and carry out necessary repairs. I have received quite a number of complaints about state of fencing north side of rail line at Magdalen Green - between electricity sub station and allotments - but also further west along the rail line. In particular residents were concerned about dogs getting onto the rail line. I am therefore pleased that Network Rail has responded positively to my request that the ...
Interesting article in yesterday's Guardian on the proposal to construct a barrage across the River Severn. Tidal Electric, which wants to generate electricity by using up to 13 tidal lagoons built on the estuary floor from rock instead of a barrage has accused Government consultants of miscalculating the costs so as to promote the barrage scheme above the lagoons. Studies carried out by the engineers AS Atkins, for Tidal Electric, have suggested that the lagoons could generate twice as much power, per square mile impounded, than the barrage, and therefore generate about 25-40% more energy without damaging the shoreline. However, ...
2008 has been a tremendously successful year for Liberal Democrat Voice, with more readers, more content and more comments than ever. But we want to be even bigger and better in 2009. You'll have seen some of our plans already, including the introduction of new regular features such as James Graham's weekly Lib Dig Pig round-ups (covering the best of the internet beyond the Liberal Democrat blogosphere). We also want to expand our online advertising and our presence at party events so that we can reach out to that wider pool of people who are interested in the sorts of ...
A flurry of calls from the media following the not entirely unexpected news that Sharon Shoesmith is appealing against her dismissal and apparently seeking compensation - Evening Standard jounalist said up to £170,000. I hope her appeal fails because she signally failed in her child protection responsibilities - that was the damning conclusion of the Ed Balls ordered investigation. This concurs with my own experiences of trying to get her to deal with cases where there was a complaint against something in her department. The answer I often got was 'children's services are working fine'. She seems to be more ...
I came across this thought for the day while looking for something else entirely, such is the serendipity of the world wide web: " The average woman would rather be beautiful than smart because the average man can see better than he can think. " I couldn't possibly comment! I'd like to hope that the men and women at the forefront of politics in the Middle East are not average by that definition
Lib Dem MP Norman Baker has revealed that an astonishing 150,000 have been questioned by police at railway stations under the aegis of legislation designed to prevent terrorists. The Telegraph has the full story: The Prevention of Terrorism Act 2000 has been used to stop 62,584 people at railway stations and another 87,000 were questioned under "stop and search" and "stop and account" legislation. Liberal Democrat transport spokesman Norman Baker, who uncovered the figures, warned that Britain was heading towards a "police state". He said: "Law-abiding passengers get enough hassle on overcrowded trains as it is without the added inconvenience ...
All this morning's papers give some prominence to David Cameron's promise of a tax cut for basic rate savers if the Tories get into power and for once it is a proposal worth looking at. After all many pensioners, who rely on their savings to maintain a decent standard of living, have found themselves struggling in the face of the recession and the impact it is having on the value of their investments. However, as Nick Clegg points out the impact of this so-called cut will be negligible. It only amounts at today interest rates to an extra 40p a ...
On R4 Today's prog: Short-selling on government owned bank stocks is an `open invitation to gamble against the taxpayer` You couldn't get a better soundbite nor a better Treasury spokesman. Use it!
In his Saturday column for the Guardian Simon Hoggart wrote of the pleasure he takes in reading the memoirs of our more obscure politicians. Discussing Alan Beith's A View from the North he said: Sir Alan Beith, the former deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, has almost nothing to say about the departures of Jeremy Thorpe, Charles Kennedy and Menzies Campbell, though each one was fascinating in its own way.But his description of the deaths of both his first wife and his son is deeply moving, and you'd never find that in a more overblown memoir.
Did you know that last year, only 7% of all Christmas cards were recycled in the United Kingdom? Shameful really. Although I do wonder if that takes into account all those that would have gone into recyling boxes and bins operated by local authorities around the UK? Anyway, this year it is key that we all do our bit. Did you know that if each person in the UK recycles just ONE Christmas card, the Woodland Trust would be able to plant 15,000 trees - that is just amazing. Well the Reeves household will be recycling just over 60 cards ...
Now on BBC. Actually `ONLY` 16%!
At 6:17 today on Today prog the Economic reporter said that Government guarantees to business were a Conservative idea. I have pointed out the wider view! Yesterday I pointed out that on another programme they used two intellectuals - Steve Richards and a guy from the Spectator - to put the framework of the two main [...]
Many of the Scottish Government buildings have failed to come up to the expected standards for their Energy Performance Certificates it has been revealed. Many including the Scottish Parliament had also failed to meet the deadline of yesterday to display their certificate. St Andrew's House and Victoria Quay in Edinburgh were found to be massively energy inefficient and creating a far larger carbon footprint than they should. On the scale of A for best and G for worst the Scottish Government set out to get its buildings audited by the start of this year but many have fallen short of ...
Ros and I have spent most of the past three weeks in Suffolk, and I have returned to London to find that my house is like a refrigerator. Odd really, because I could have sworn that I had set the timer on the boiler to come on twice a day, heating the house and boiling some hot water to prevent frozen pipes and the like. It clearly hasn't worked because the temperature in my office (formerly the
