For a while, I've been looking for a combi boiler that's compatible with solar water heaters. I'd heard that most combi boilers weren't suitable, but nothing more specific. Well, here's one: the Ferroli HE S boiler range seems to be compatible with their [pdf] solar hot water system, and their underfloor heating system. They use a solar panel to heat a small tank of water, and use that tank to
I am sorry to go on about David Cameron. As you well know if you are a regular reader, I am no fan of "Dave", who for me makes lots of noise but little sense, and this is best exemplified today by Cameron's comments that he would "wipe the slate clean". What does this mean ? Wiping the slate clean in real life means clearing all debts, starting completely afresh. Is he really saying all debts would be written off or is he trying to use this language merely to imply this to people ? The truth is that of ...
{2007_03290024} I called in to see a constituent this afternoon who lives on Bede Walk, off Northumberland Avenue. Noticing the new Post-16 education centre buildings at Reading Girls School taking shape, I couldn't fail to notice the poor state of the fence/hedge that divides the School from Bede Walk. This issue has been a problem as long as I can remember, and residents have been complaining about the fence for many years. The picture above was taken of myself and my constituent Kay Nash back in March 2007, around the time I first formally raised the issue with the School: "I am one of the ...
We know by now that the Daily Mail don't reckon much to Twitter, as I highlighted recently over on Lib Dem Voice. Today, from new satirical* blog (Probably Not) The Daily Mail: "Do you trust Twitter? Should you? In response to a pathetic and rather lacklustre piece of "journalism" in the Daily Mail, I created ran a (mildly satirical) twitter account under the name @dailymail_uk A flurry of tweets and all of a sudden I found myself with over 700 followers. About 6 times more than the "official" Daily Mail twitter. Not bad for a week's work. A few minor ...
{2007_03290024} I called in to see a constituent this afternoon who lives on Bede Walk, off Northumberland Avenue. Noticing the new Post-16 education centre buildings at Reading Girls School taking shape, I couldn't fail to notice the poor state of the fence/hedge that divides the School from Bede Walk. This issue has been a problem as long as I can remember, and residents have been complaining about the fence for many years. The picture above was taken of myself and my constituent Kay Nash back in March 2007, around the time I first formally raised the issue with the School: "I am one of the ...
In my time as a councillor I have had some success in using my influence to get Luton Borough Council to take climate change seriously. But I am still frustrated at how poorly it is addressing the issue. While there are examples of good practice in places, there are far too few councils, and far too few councillors, providing the level of leadership we need. So the IDeA, the local government
One thing above all else depresses me about the furore over Prince Harry's racist remarks. I don't think that he deliberately went out of his way to be gratuitously unpleasant. I have actually watched the video and he seems very comfortable and relaxed and didn't seem to be trying to upset anybody. In the 21st century, it is clearly seen as acceptable to use racist and offensive language in the Army on a daily basis. Isn't it time to do something about that? In some ways, Prince Harry didn't ask for the role he was given, and I can almost ...
You never know, it's just possible this might happen. 2008 presented a real quandary for me: on the one hand, I was (not uncritically) supportive of the European Constitutional Treaty. Its mutation into the Lisbon Treaty made it weaker still, removing one of the main advantages of the Constitutional Treaty in the first place (specifically, that it was a clean slate and relatively easy to read compared to trying to follow a succession of amending treaties), but on balance it contained just enough good things in it for me to have voted "yes" in any referendum. On the other hand, ...
We travelled up from Cairo through the Sinai in a coach with an Egyptian police escort. Assembling our team of 8 MEPs took a long time at the airport, and what with confusion about where to stay we didn´t put our heads down till past 3am. More confusion in the morning delayed us getting to the Rafah crossing till just before noon. It didn´t seem to matter; UNRWA had already called to tell us that the Israeli Defence Ministry was not prepared to let their vehicles meet us. A series of telephone calls had produced conflicting stories but the result ...
After a hard day delivering Liberal Alliance leaflets for some by-election candidate in the 1980s I would retire to the pub. In those days Echo Beach always seemed to be on the jukebox, but this is a live version recorded at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, in 1980. Martha and the Muffins turn out to have been a Canadian band. And in the days when they recorded Echo Beach there were two members called Martha: Martha Johnson and Martha Ladly. Hence, no doubt, the old Canadian proverb: "Too many Marthas and not enough Muffins."
I have commented over at Iain Dale's blog on the issue of Harry's comments using the word "Paki" which I did not find racist but did find insulting. You can read my comment below: I speak here as a person with links to Pakistan via my Parent's and Grandparents and via the member of the Liberal party at the time of Pakistan's creation Mohammed Ali Jinnah.The comments by Harry are a little to far I have to say. Many people think the word "paki" is an insult and I think it is in some context.Many elders in the Pakistani communities ...
I think I saw him tonight.
"Government to delude graduates over employment prospects." As if you would ever read a headline like that. But seeing through government spin concerning how it attempts to deal with the uncertain prospects for 300,000 students graduating this year, you should certainly think it. The government has apparently been attempting to encourage blue-chip firms to provide low-paid internships, in exchange for CV-padding spiel for graduates, to aid them in an increasingly competitive and internationalised job market. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7821629.stm There are many problems with this. Not least, the implication that UK students have no relevant, valuable work experience upon graduation in the first ...
I was up uncustomarily early this morning (for me on a Sunday!) to welcome the Mayor of Reading, Cllr Pete Beard to the beautiful Eldon Square Gardens. Pete was supporting the Friends of Eldon Square Gardens, the group I helped get off the ground last year, to plant two new Mulberry trees and a Cherry Tree. This is part of the ongoing regeneration of the Gardens - one of our successful campaigns in the ward (and one of the ones closest to my heart). {IMG_1491} Despite the freezing weather, a number of local residents turned out lend RBC's Dave Booth and local resident, Jane Setter, Chair ...
It's like there's a War on Want. As in, they're declaring war on anything people want. Goodbye plasma screen televisions, on the grounds of energy efficiency. I can't justify why I need a giant plasma screen telly. I doubt anyone can, they just want them. Good news for Cinemas, of course. It's brilliant news for LCD panel manufacturers. It's a nightmarish piece of news for Plasma panel manufacturers and that technology is now dead in the water. It's bad news for Home Cinema buffs too. Once again the EU 'free trade' zone turns out to be remarkably protectionist with increasing ...
Catching up on my bills this weekend, I noticed that that British Gas has read my meter two bills running. This is quite unusual. In fact there has been a lot in the media recently about the underhand tactics of companies changing direct debit payments or reading the meter at the minimal interval and customers finding out they owe lots of money. In times of economic struggle perhaps there should
Christmas holiday fly tippers in Smannell are having their collar felt thanks to Samnnell Lib Dems. A member of the Smannell Lib Dem FOCUS team spotted this "junk" pile which had been tipped just after Christmas on the footpath to Finkley Farm. This anti-social crime is hard to detect unless of course the dim wits leave all the labels on the Christmas presents they have unwrapped and throw away the boxes with the delivery notes and address of persons likely to be associated with the tipping. Guess what ? in this instance they all came from the same address and ...
Finally I have a selection of outgoing links on this site - what is hopefully a bit of a mixed bag of stuff from across the UK political blogosphere, friends, antagonists and stuff I think's good. It's not a complete list of everything I read, or like, nor does it include all my friends. If you'd like a reciprocal link, or would just like me to include a link to your blog because you're a plucky go-getter that wants to spread the word about your fantastic corner of the internet, drop me an email at C0nsp1racyG0re@g00glema1l.com ... replacing numbers with ...
Today's netcast is up (fashionably late) and many of you will find yourselves linked in it. ginasketch has some more original art for sale. Malady of the weekend appears to be random nosebleeds. Lego Batman Wii game horribly addictive. Small Person has fanvids on YouTube. Quote of the week goes to Andrew Hickey:if you look at Doctor Who fans between the ages of (roughly) 30 and 60 you'll find that an astonishingly high proportion of them are gay (or in some way of an alternative sexuality), members of the Liberal Democrats, middle class, very interested in computers, readers of 2000AD, ...
Local LibDem Maryfield Ward representative Chris Hall today met George Lyon, the lead Scottish Liberal Democrat candidate for next June's European Election. The LibDem MEP's work for Britain in Europe - see www.libdemmeps.org.uk - and you can read more about George Lyon's campaign by clicking on the headline above. The LibDems work for us all year round, not just at election time.
With the first day of temperatures above freezing for what seems like an eternity, it seemed like a good idea to do a bit of tidying around the house. Now I had always considered myself to be the sort of person who didn't gather too much 'stuff', a theory which bit the dust when I moved house eighteen months ago, and needed a rather large skip to dispose of the detritus of my life. It is amazing
Both Malc and Jeff have questioned the point of going on protests like yesterday's Gaza march. They argue that it's futile cos it's not going to change anybody's mind and it just leaves the authorities a whole load of stuff to clean up. While I am not naive enough to think that George, or Gordon, or Tony, or David, or Barack or Hillary are going to say "Wow, look at all those people in the streets. Maybe we should get tough with Israel, I haven't quite lost so much of my idealism that I've turned into Victor Meldrew before my ...
I have been pleased with two stories about experts in The Times and the S31 (2) threshold in The Telegraph. These go to the nub of why so many odd decisions are made by the Family Courts. They are written without reference to some of the really odd cases. The issue about parents not being allowed a second opinion is being looked at by the European Court at the moment. That of the vagueness
Prince Harry is all over the papers and media today after the News of the World published quotes and the video of him referring to his colleagues in racist terms. Both David Cameron and Nick Clegg have made strong comments on the issue. But to me it seems that the media have blown the issue up far beyond its worth. I have no doubt that the comments were both stupid and offensive. The terms used are derogatory and racist. I don't think it matters that the 'Paki' comment was used as a nickname for a friend - that perhaps even ...
LabourList has now been officially launched. It is Labour's answer to ConservativeHome and Lib Dem Voice and as far as I understand managed by Derek Draper. It looks fine. Time will tell if it draws in a community in the way the other party sites have. The conventional view has been that it is easier for parties in opposition to maximise the potential of the web and social media. There is already a LabourHome which could find itself competing for contributors and readership with its fellow party site. The LabourList site is clearly there to attack its opponents. The site ...
There is an imporant letter in today's 'Observer' from almost a dozen leading British Jews — including the LibDem peer, Rabbi Julia Neuberger — calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, with international monitoring of the ceasefire agreement. The signatories – who also include form Labour Party Chairman Sir Jeremy Beecham, the philanthropist [...]
It has been a busy first week back following the festive period, including meetings involving TACTRAN (the regional transport partnership), the Dundee Health Central project and various meetings with constituents, including a site visit about traffic safety matters at Miller's Wynd/Hawkhill. Today, a useful meeting of LibDem activists in Perth, which a Dundee LibDem colleague and I attended. I'm pictured above with George Lyon, the leading Scottish Liberal Democrat for next June's European Election, who delivered the keynote address today. You can read more about George and his campaign by clicking on the headline above. And ... an equally busy ...
An independent review to be published this month is expected to recommend that the 30-year rule on government secrets should be changed to 15 years. Under current rules, 30-year-old confidential government papers are released annually by the National Archives in Kew. The review was commissioned by Gordon Brown in 2007 and the team, led by Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre, has already reported its findings to the Prime Minister. From the Independent on Sunday: "Secrets behind events such as the miners' strike, the poll tax riots and Black Wednesday may be laid bare as early as next year. A new ...
Our first advice surgery of the new year will be held at Hexham road community centre, 1a Bamburgh Close from 10:00am until 11.30 noon, on 17 January 2009. No need to book: you're more than welcome to just drop in and see us. We are in the back room so from the door walk down the corridor to the right and keep going to the end. This is your chance to access your councillors directly and discus any concerns or idea. Myself, Kirsten and Daisy really look forward to seeing you. Just look for the Advice Surgery sign shown below: ...
{Claverton Down parking problems} Two Bathwick locations are due double yellow lines at residents' requests, backed up by your councillors. Parking on Claverton Down and Warminster Road will be restricted to legal bays, prohibiting dangerous side of road parking. On Claverton Down a number of residents have requested that parking on the verges is stopped and the informal layby near the Skyline Walk route is regulated. It is proposed that the parking bay is now restricted to two hours parking only, with all other parking banned. This should shop the erosion of the grass verges which has left the area ...
LibCync has stimulated some thoughts about Jonathan Aitken. Should we forgive him? - for example. Should we pray for him? I should preface all this by saying that I am very loyal Guardian reader. I lapped up every word of the long series of articles about the excruciating demise of this ex-Tory cabinet minister, and his imprisonment for perjury eight years ago. (Indeed, I suspect that my
Tavish Scott, Leader of the Liberal Democrats in Scotland, has demanded the First Minister make a public apology for misleading the Scottish Parliament. Although progress has been made today, Mr Scott has learned that the funding situation at the Scottish Inter Faith Council had not been resolved yesterday, contrary to the answer given during First Minister's Questions. Senior representatives from the SIFC are due to meet civil servants on Tuesday to finalise the funding application. An email from Major Alan Dixon, convenor of the Scottish Inter Faith Council makes it plain that the matter was not resolved. Commenting, Mr Scott ...
Over the weekend the Robin Lawrence for Wolverhampton South West Facebook Group was set up to support Robin Lawrence as the Liberal Democrat candidate for the General Election.
I just thought I'd mention that. It was yesterday's fact from the 3.15 Fact Machine on Nihal's Radio One show. So it cannot be questioned. Fiona Bruce says so. And she's a BBC newsreader. So there. (Actually on this occasion I think the 3.15 Fact Machine should be questioned. "Boasts" the fifth largest navy in the world, would be more accurate. I can't find any independent verification of the
David Cameron has said today that just having a Tory government would help the economic problems the country is going through, how is that possible I ask? David Cameron also told Andrew Marr that his campaign was ready for Gordon Brown to call a general election. The Conservatives are a little over confident that they are going to win the next general election but I don't think it is going to be as easy as that. The polls are not exactly correct and many people have predicted a hung government, may I remind Mr Cameron. Tom Harris MP has an ...
Today's Sunday Telegraph reports that Labour's attempts to woo regional businessmen has not been a great success. It appears that having spent an estimated £200,000 of taxpayers' money on the Cabinet's "away-day" in northern England, the Labour Party then asked businessmen hit by the economic crisis to pay £20 each to meet Gordon Brown: Louise Ellman, the MP for Liverpool Riverside, hosted the "Meet the PM" night at Newz, a bar in the city, last Wednesday. "I told them that I'd only cough up £20 if Brown resigned," says the unimpresssed owner of one local business. Ellman is keen to ...
Here's another use for stilettos, Annunziata Somerset and Frome Lib Dem MP David Heath has put the knife into his local Tory candidate, hackette Annunziata Rees-Mogg, after she waxed lyrical about the thrills of 'wearing a stunning pair of Christian Louboutins'. Bearded Heath, who prefers wellies, scoffs: 'She has written more about designer shoes than the economy From today's Daily Mail.
Reshuffles are never going to satisfy everyone. I don't mean for the MPs involved, I mean party members and political commentators. You only need to look on Liberal Democrat Voice to see that. For every person who praises a move, there are several who criticise it, and then of course there are those who complain [...]
Today's Telegraph publishes the result of a YouGov opinion showing the current state of public voting intentions for this June's elections to the European Parliament. The figures in brackets are changes from actual 2004 result: Con 35% (+8) Lab 29% (+6) LD 15% (n/c) UKIP 9% (-7) Grn 5% (-1) BNP 4% (-1) Nats 4% (+2) All opinion polls come with health warnings, and LDV flags them up loud-and-clear. This is all the more so for Euro polls because (i) we don't have any other pollsters' surveys to compare these figures to, and (ii) the general record of opinion polls ...
David Smith is economics editor at the Sunday Times and today he writes of George Osborne: Every day, sometimes on several occasions, an e-mail arrives in my inbox on behalf of George Osborne, the Conservative shadow chancellor. Issued in response to a minor economic indicator or flaky forecast, these missives, apart from rather demeaning the office of shadow chancellor, are usually harmless enough and can be safely ignored. Last week, however, came one that summed up the Tory problem: opposition by soundbite. For weeks, a debate has raged about whether central banks should engage in "quantitative easing", the technique employed ...
The media is full of the story about Prince Harry, in a video diary, referring to a platoon colleagues as "paki" and the enemy as "towelheads". Along with the obligatory criticism from all and sundry, including Clegg and Cameron, some have even called for him to be drummed out of the army. Get a grip, people. If every member of the armed forces who ever used the words "paki" or "towelhead" were kicked out, we wouldn't have enough soldiers to keep order in Godalming, never mind Iraq and Afghanistan. If, and only if, the term "paki" was meant in an ...
The European Movement held a day conference on 10 Years of the Euro at University College London yesterday, though any sense of celebration was overshadowed by a deep feeling of frustration that Britain has failed to 'opt in' to the single currency, and that the mood of such a large proportion of the British public [...]
It may seem like global warming has been replaced by a new ice age, but it's important to remember that one cold spell does not change the upward trend. According to the Met Office the 17 warmest years on record have all occurred in the last 20 years. The other thing to remember is that global warming doesn't simply mean that the planet will heat up. It means that the amount of energy in the climate system will rise, leading to increasingly violent weather conditions. So, for example, although overall UK temperatures are predicted to increase, in winter we will ...
As an interested person in the Didsbury West by-election (caused by the untimely death of Neil Trafford) I looked at `John Leech Watch` which is a jaundiced poor man's theyworkforyou.com site that is designed to mock John Leech by a saddoe Labour activist. I only ask because the last posting was on May 2nd last year. [...]
Nick Clegg top of the tree on the news - now we've just got to get him on the top slot for not just foreign affairs and Prince Harry. The most important work that we have to do is to ensure that we are represented on EVERY show, news item etc about the Economy. It's the defining [...]
As a Lib Dem I believe passionately in proportionate representation. I believe I have got my head around the system used in the European elections but STV still confuses me and this confusion has got me into trouble with some of you election boffs out there. The thing that confuses me is the quota. Having read about it, I understand the purpose, what I don't understand is the surplus and how
Wow, if being President of the US isn't enough, Obama has his career as a comic-book President and friend of Spiderman to fall back on. It led me to wonder what comic Gordon Brown would feature in. Maybe the X-Men, where his mutation is psychic inducement of boredom and lethargy? Perhaps Batman, where he is a dour, useless politician Batman tries to inspire into actually taking action, but fails? What about the Sandman comics, where he could be a mindless automaton creation of Dream's imagination? The list could go on! You're welcome to post similar suggestions! Post by Ol - ...
Repsonding to the news of Prince Harry's race row video - in which he refers to two army friends as a 'Paki' and 'raghead' - Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has made clear his dismay: Mr Clegg added his voice to those criticising Prince Harry's remarks, saying he would have sacked a member of his team for saying such things. Asked about Prince Harry's comments, he said: "He should not have used those words, it would have cause considerable offence." And asked if he would have had to sack a member of his team for using such language, he added: ...
Yesterday I dropped an email into the inbox of Mike Smithson who runs the blog politicalBetting.com and he emailed back to say that he would ask Ladbrokes to release the market for Pendle. Now I wait anxiously to see what the odds are for Pendle so I can write up a market analysis of the Pendle seat from my point of view, which comes from within Pendle.
Sun 11th
09:23
LabourList: Or how to have a career outside manufacturing, agriculture and services...
A few days ago I blogged about Peter Oborne's "The Triumph of the Political Class". This book claims the UK is run by an alliance of professional politicians, supportive journalists and advertising/marketing professionals. Unlike the old Establishment, who had successful careers before entering politics, the political class devote their lives to politics. The temptation to cling to power and
Richard has just put on The Andrew Marr Show, and he's gone out to see David Cameron's house, because the Tory Leader is now too important to come into the studio. Oh, god, and now it's royal news. Much as I'm fond of Andrew Marr, and much as I enjoy his Prisoner fanboy opening titles, I'd rather watch almost anything else. Even ITV (well, on Tuesdays, when ITV4 at least is now repeating proper The Prisoner). Before I go off to the bedroom to read instead, then, links to two online clips for your entertainment, one very funny, one loving. ...
Yes even though it is likely to end terribly, I will be getting on a Virgin Train later and attempting to use the West Coast Mainline to get to London. I say attempting, as of course we all know two things about that particular route A) Its had a few problems over the last week, & B) Even when there aren't problems with the line itself, there still no guarantee that the Virgin Train will be on-time. I like so many other people have had mixed problems with Virgin Trains, whether it be the time that I got on 3 separate trains ...
Late last night President-Elect Obama visited the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. Obama has frequently echoed the thoughts and ideals of Lincoln through his campaign, and plans to use the same bible as Lincoln did to be inaugurated in 9 days time.
I am pleased that the City Council has agreed to my request to cut back vegetation at the roundabout on the Hawkhill by-pass at its junction with Hunter Street, in order to improve sightlines for pedestrians. The roundabout is significantly overgrown and I received concerns from residents that it is difficult for pedestrians crossing the Hawkhill by-pass to see on-coming traffic. This is a busy area, with many pedestrians crossing, particularly students and staff going to the University of Dundee and it is important that there is good visibility. The response received from the City Council said: "I agree that ...
With thanks to my friend in the north.
{People of all ages arrived to protest. © Stephen Glenn 2009} {Many different banners were ready to be carried by willing hands People of all ages arrived to protest. © Stephen Glenn 2009} People arrived from all over Scotland on Saturday to take part in a demonstration to the US Consulate on Royal Crescent before returning down Princes Street for a rally at the Ross Bandstand in Princes Street Gardens. My good friend and fellow Lib Dem blogger Caron has written up a very good account of the events so I will be merely adding the pictures. {East Market Street ...
There are many theories about the origins of the current global slow-down/recession/depression or however you wish to describe the current mess we have got ourselves in. I subscribe to the one I have...
Apart from the truly awful name, the even worse tagline, "Where Labour minded people come together", the depressingly soviet design, terrible response speeds and a need to click-click-click constantly and dire, miserable, partisan content Labour's first Fully Authorised Blog "Labourlist"* is fantastic. Finally we'll get to find out what the Government's line is on the issues of the day, except this time it'll be free of the tyranny of the evil right wing media. Finally the truth will come out. Ha. I jest, of course. If this blog, or whatever it is, is successful, it will be Labourhome that suffers. ...
LibertyCat and I have just been to see Phantom of the Opera and, like Spamalot, I was generally disappointed. Not with the music, which was brilliant; nor with the special effects. I was just frustrated by the plot. Spamalot irritated me by including bad Broadway jokes and a totally unnecessary token female character, which meant it missed the much-loved bridge scene from the original Monty
Kristine Reeves earned £52,000 a year as head of neighbourhood and strategic housing at Norwich City Council. She was fired for gross misconduct after kicking tenants out of their post-war housing. The site had been earmarked for demolition to make way for new homes, but the properties were then advertised in a council newsletter. Ms Reeves and her boyfriend moved in to the building along with a
Sport, sport, masculine sport, equips a young man for society... There are a number of cliches about Doctor Who fans that happen to be true. They're not *as* true now as they used to be (a lot of people now who define themselves as Doctor Who fans are 'cult TV' fans generally, the kind of people [...]
This year's New Adventures include Lawrence Miles' debut, Christmas on a Rational Planet; Happy Endings' comedy wedding; Just War's Nazi occupation; and a tragedy's aftermath in Bad Therapy. Other Doctors appear in Sylv-Peter crossover Cold Fusion, Tom's witty The English Way of Death and Billy's fabulous The Plotters and nightmarish The Man in the Velvet Mask. Paul McGann stars in a one-off TV movie - and Russell T Davies writes his first Doctor Who... Doctor Who: The New Adventures - Damaged Goods "At the far end of the street, hostile armed men came to the party, and twenty minutes passed." ...
