It's fascinating to observe the amount of heated speculation going on — not least within the Conservative Party — about whether David Cameron will bring Ken Clarke into his Shadow Cabinet. If he does, this might prove to middle England that the new Tory party is indeed a broad church. There is something comfortingly cuddly [...]
Dear Editor, I have just seen a recent email update from a Hastings Borough Council officer celebrating the high level of returns for the communal bin consultation. It is indeed good news that for all those people who have not yet received their consultation forms, there are many more who have returned them. I suspect the reason for [...]
Nick Perry, Lib Dem parliamentary campaigner for Hastings & Rye, is calling for a multi-agency and cross-party debate on substance misuse provision in Hastings and Rother. Nick, who works as a mental health social worker locally, has contacted practitioners in various agencies including local GPs, the police and the voluntary sector, to get their views on [...]
Briefly - Sharon Shoesmith has lost her appeal over her sacking by Haringey Council.
Parliament went back to work today, and the main business of the day in the Lords has been the Marine and Coastal Access Bill, led for us by Tony Greaves. That sort of work is our front of house, but an awful lot else goes one, especially in select committees where the work of the Lords on European policy is regarded as an exemplar of how member states should scrutinise EU legislation. There are also a number of domestic committees where Lords act in a non executive role to oversee various aspects of running the House. The House Committee sets ...
This post will be of absolutely no interest to at least 99% of the readers here - unless you're far more interested in the music of Frank Zappa than is good for you, you might as well skip this post. I'm posting this because it's one of those things that someone might stumble across in [...]
... regarding my daughter's YouTube channel (my favourite vid is this one), which he runs as a hobby.theuklabourparty - #69 - Most Subscribed (All Time) - Gurus - United Kingdom amazingholly - #70 - Most Subscribed (All Time) - Gurus - United Kingdom Imagine that, Holly is on the brink of becoming more popular than the Labour Party! lol ((the Ex)) P.S. webcameronuk (unranked)Bwahahahahahahahaha my five year old daughter, with a budget of zero minus a bit, is on the brink of becoming more popular than all the might of marketing the Labour party and all their cash can muster. ...
It's amazing how much reading material reaches 'Liberal Bureaucracy', particularly since I married Ros. She gets magazines and mailings from a vast range of organisations and, because much of it is linked to politics and government, I take a keen interest in it. My attention has been drawn to a report from the Department of Communities and Local Government, which indicates that the proportion of
Mon 12th
21:20
Clegg: Lib Dem Social Mobility Commission "shatters the idea that Britain in 2009 is a free and fair...
The Lib Dem website reports that the party's independent commission on social mobility - set up by Nick Clegg the day after he was elected leader - has published its full report: The Independent Social Mobility Commission, set up by Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg and chaired by Barnardo's Chief Executive Martin Narey, has found that a child's life chances are 'dependent on the background and earnings of its parents'. The commission's report also found that increased education funding has failed to reach those children most in need. The report sets out recommendations for improving the opportunities of disadvantaged children ...
A subject that rarely fails to bring a lump to my throat is that of the remaining World War One veterans and so it is with great sadness that we mourn the passing of Bill Stone, one of the last four servicemen of the Great War. A stoker in the Royal Navy during both wars, he joined up on his 18th birthday to serve in the final two months of the first war and was then involved in a number of actions, including the Dunkirk evacuations in the second. I know that this idea has been around for a while, ...
Reuters has the story about Bush backing Israel even though the death toll has increased to 900. George Bush needs to remember that him giving Palestine the backing from the day he became President has been one of the problems behind the peace deal between the two countries not taking place. I just hope President elect Obama will not choose sides in this troubled region and will make plans to try and have a peace deal that will work once and for all!
When I was in Primary 5, I hated my spelling homework. Every week we were given a list of uninspiring words which we had to learn and write a sentence using each one. It was excruciating to have to find interesting sentences with dull words like inflate or distribute. Ok, I might have learned to spell the words, but I hated the falseness of the sentences I had to create. Looking back, it would have been easier to write a piece of prose with all those words in it but hindsight is a fabulous thing. Anna too hated the spellings ...
Am I alone? Everyone else seems to be 'following' all sorts of people. They range from the great and the good - Stephen Fry - to politicians and political commentators - such as Dale - to mates. I suppose I can vaguely see the idea of following a mate. It would tend to be someone you know very well. You know their personality, their likes and dislikes and you can get the jokes they will inevitably make. But strangers? Nope - bypasses me completely. And despite having read his blog for a few years and met him a couple of ...
Anyone who thinks our civil liberties will be any better protected by a Conservative Government should think again. Speaking in Bangor (the Northern Ireland flavour) on Friday, the News Letter reports Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve saying: ... there is "a rights culture" which is "out of control", not just in Ulster, but throughout the UK. It did not help that "the undeserving in society" can often use rights legislation for personal gain, he added. The Conservatives, he suggested, intend to create a UK Bill of Rights which would have in-built safeguards to prevent those "whose own behaviour is lacking" ...
I'm not sure if you've noticed - perhaps you have far more important things to do in life than stare at websites all day - but the BBC appear to have a curious trend in the photographs of politicians of note. Whenever on picture accompanyments to stories on the BBC website you see more than the head of the politician in question, it becomes immediately clear that they are at an outrageous slant in relation to their backgrounds. Take, for example, the following picture of David Camperon: See what I mean? Perhaps it's the photographer's idea of a joke on ...
It's a sad day for BBC Sport, with the passing of David Vine, one of the giants of its presenting team. I first saw him when he was commentating on Plymouth Hoe as we awaited the return of Sir Francis Chichester from his historic Round the World voyage in 1967. David Vine was then working for Westward Television, presenting its Sports Desk. I remember seeing him stood on one of their vans talking
Here we go again... Yet another cynical attempt by the labour party to appeal to the 'yoof'. I was about to go on and look at Sarah Mulholland's (Labour Students Chair) post on where Labour should go next on top up fees but it seems that labourlist.org has crashed! A good omen?
Sorry for the lack of blogging over the last few weeks. I was frantically working on essays and revision so took a bit of time off!
Lib Dem Voice has invited both the Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine and the Friends of Israel to submit articles looking at the current Middle East crisis. Today we publish this contribution from Andrew Baldwin, Secretary of Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine. The recent violence in the Gaza Strip is extremely damaging for the so called 'peace process' in the Middle East. The international community has been slow to act, issuing statements urging Hamas to stop firing rockets into Israel, but this almost abandonment of the Palestinian people is extremely dangerous for the future, and ignores the fact that the ...
On "The One Show", on BBC a few minutes ago "On tomorrow's show, possibly the new Prime Minister, David Cameron !" Odd, I didn't know the election had taken place. You'd expect a TV presenter to know the difference between "next" and "new".
Dear Readers, this is no longer my blog it is our blog and we need to work together to make it into a place for us all to come to for the latest political commentary from me the writer Irfan Ahmed. With this in mind I would like to propose something to you today, I am thinking of buying the URL irfan-ahmed.com and would like to know if you readers would like that or not. Please object via the comment section, if the new URL is purchased then we would all be transferred to that and then you would have ...
Scrutiny Overview Committee The main item of business at this meeting was the review of the SEN Transport Policy. As Carers Champion at the council I had taken efforts to hear the views of parent carers who might be affected by the changes to this policy, which proposed introducing pick up points for SEN children attending [...]
Lidl have put in their long awaited planning application for change of use of the former Herman Miller Factory to retail use. The application details have been published on www.readmyday.co.uk/westmoreland
On Friday I wrote about Craig Murray's new book The Catholic Orangemen of Togo and linked to a posting on his blog that gave details of how to buy a hard copy. Craig has now made the book freely available from his website as a PDF too. More details on his blog again.
"...many organisational cultures are outdated, having been designed for just one type of worker. The days of trying to shoe-horn people into institutions that were never designed by them or for them are over. They need to reform". Many thanks to Zohra Moosa, in the CiF piece on Friday. She's talking about business and the world of work but she could just as equally be talking about political parties, and particularly, in my experience of the Liberal Democrats. Jonathan Hunt of the wrote a letter in Lib Dem News, a few weeks ago, pointing out the parties dismal record of ...
LabourList - self-consciously branded by its founder, Derek Draper, as Labour's answer to ConservativeHome - officially went live today, earning generous press coverage (in terms of column inches, if not warmth of reception). So, what do we make of it so far? It's interesting that, as was true of both ConHome (with Tim Montgomerie) and LDV (with Rob Fenwick) when first launched, it's a former party staffer who's set up LabourList: perhaps not surprisingly, a certain amount of insider-knowledge is pretty useful when establishing a must-read party site. Even less surprisingly, if you want it to be seen as independent ...
There is something deeply uncomfortable about the way Labour government members retire from the Cabinet to the backbenches and then take on a well paid position as consultants to the industry which came under the control of the ministry they recently led. The latest to make the move is John Reid. The former Defence Secretary has just picked up a plum job as a consultant to G4S Security Services,
... or does anyone else think that the Liberal Democrats' classification of sexual orientation, abuse, maternity, Relationships, work/life balance, carers, family and body image as women's issues does more harm than good? I mean, the fact that the Women's Policy Group is examining these issues implies that the party thinks that they are nothing whatsoever to do with men. This has a number of effects. It reinforces the idea that men don't need to worry about these issues, when in fact, they do It makes sure that these issues are sidelined as unimportant in a party and a parliament which ...
How sad is Ken Livingstone? Ken, the elections were last year, I have got over the fact that my campaign resulted in Brian Paddick in third place and you in second. But, come on having your own silly opening ceremony three days before the official one is hardly grown up now is it? The quote below is from Andrew Gilligan's excelent column in tonights Evening Standard. "On Saturday, in his new role as the sorest loser in the history of the world, Ken staged his own separate, unofficial, ex-mayors-only DLR opening ceremony at Woolwich, two days before Boris's. How stratospherically ...
There is a cat on my road who, consistently and illegally, comes in through our cat flap, and tries to steal Mac's food. Mac, you will recall, is the three-legged feline who runs our home. I know of this renegade cat's existence only because he wears a bell round his neck, and can thus be heard every time he leaps into the house. Unfortunately, he's quicker than I am and so each time I hear his bell and race into the kitchen to try and catch him in the act, he hears me coming and bolts out the door. All ...
President Bush has given his final press conference - keener to be held to account now he's suddenly paying some attention to history (much too little, much too late). He claimed that he was "disappointed" not to have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Well, that's one way of putting it. He's earned some unexpected credit over the past couple of months; he was an occasionally good outgoing President. He decided to be, at the last, a unifyer in supporting President-Elect Obama (actively so, rather than in the country uniting in relief that anyone else was to be President). ...
Did you know that the Lib Dems have two MPs on twitter? They are Lynne Featherstone and Jo Swinson. Isn't that amazing? You should know this, of course, because I told you last year. Repeatedly. Still, if you knew that Jo Swinson and Lynne Featherstone were on Twitter, congratulations. You're two steps ahead of the Guardian.
The BBC have got a video of Barack Obama turning up at a fast food restaurant to eat and all the people there at the time went wild to meet the president elect. Great to see that Mr Obama is not stuck up and he prefers to wine and dine with the ordinary people in fast food restaurants. Maybe when he comes to the UK someone will see him in a chippy?
The year is but 12 days old and it's only a little over a week since we last caught up, but already we have dozens of delectable posts to pick over and review for your entertainment. Just this morning, we had the welcome return of the excerpts from the Dictionary of Liberal Thought with a topical entry on Keynes beginning a three month series on the man, his works and thought, and the Forum that now bears his name. Our fearless leader underwent celebrated a birthday, we liked Twitter for spurious reasons, we discussed my specialist subject, getting up in ...
Sadly, it's not a surprising headline, but the 2008 National Census of Local Authority Councillors is just out: it shows that councillors in England are still predominantly white and male. There's a bulge around retirement age. (I'm talking statistics here, not middle-age spread!) Some of the main findings are summarised below: • Most councillors (68.4%) were male, 30.8% were female (0.8% did not respond). • The proportion of female councillors has increased from 27.8% in 1997. • The average age of councillors has increased from 55.4 years in 1997 to 58.8 years in 2008. • 96.6% of councillors were white ...
Mon 12th
16:29
Non-fact machine questioning Update: Walt Disney corporation owns the fifth largest navy in the worl...
Update 12/1/09: Nihal's show is certainly the most accessible one on the BBC in my long experience. Full marks to the man and his team. I sent a message to Nihal about this yesterday on his Facebook wall and got an almost immediate response. His producer, Chris has now responded. I have learnt my lesson. THE FACT MACHINE CANNOT BE QUESTIONED. Apparently this huge "navy" belonging to the Walt
Well I've had a good weekend all told - sorted one of my aims out - creating a social life for myself by being an instigator. Friday I went to see Che art One - loved it. Well acted and gripping the two hours at once flew by and become all engrossing as you were [...]
A story in the weekend Liverpool Echo talks about a move by "health chiefs" (the PCT in other words) to use specific local powers to tackle films that feature people smoking. The idea is that going to the cinema and seeing a character in a film smoke makes people more likely to take up the habit, or less likely to give it up. The campaigners argue that actually there are local powers and councils could impose higher certificates (18) on films to be shown locally and showing people puffing away. We are told this is going to be considered at ...
I spent at least some time this weekend mentally upbraiding Iain Dale for his paranoia in thinking that technical faults that got in the way of a David Cameron interview with Andrew Marr stemmed from Labour supporting techies pulling the plug. Cameron had apparently insisted on being interviewed from home because the week before, Gordon Brown had been interviewed from 10 Downing Street. Iain tells us further the Beeb were none to happy with the arrangement but Cameron insisted. So clearly, the only rational explanation was that peeved techies forced to do OB work on a Sunday combined with Aunty's ...
Our daughter has three main passions in her life: communicating on the internet, animals and scuba diving. So I think I may have found the ideal jobfor her. The role of caretaker Hamilton island, in the Great Barrier Reef, is being advertised, with duties including looking after the wildlife, writing a blog and snorkeling and [...]
Earlier today on LDV I uploaded an excellent, academic summary of the life and work of John Maynard Keynes: The most influential and important economic thinker of the twentieth century, Keynes's most important academic works were concerned not only with challenging accepted economic theory but also with finding solutions to real economic problems; his ideas came to underpin the post-war economic strategy of Western governments. He was an active Liberal and contributed to Lloyd George's reshaping of Liberal Party policy in the 1920s; he also helped to found the Liberal Summer School And to that learned and worthy contribution to ...
Turned on Daily Politics only to find same old same old - a competition for viewers to guess how many sitting days at Parliament until their next break because parliamentarians had had a three week 'break' over Christmas. Parliament was not sitting - that is not the same thing as a 'break' or a holiday! Do those who work in the media only care about what happens at Parliament and not the constituencies - 'cos I think it is they who are guilty of perpetuating the idea that only Parliament matters. It may be all they care about - but ...
What is the date of this Pub? Is it really 1815 reflecting the grand alliance between Wellington (England) and Blucher http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Waterloo Or is it a name adopted much later and subsequently. I do know it's not political! :-) Oh, btw we're in Mill Lane, West Hampstead, for this picture...
Last week, I indicated how unimpressed I was with the way that our railways are run. I suggested that; "Naturally, if off-peak passenger numbers fall, the Train Operating Companies will use that as an excuse to cut off-peak services." Yesterday came reports that only reconfirm my fears. Dan Milmo and Tim Webb, reporting in the Observer, warn that rail and bus services are under threat due to
Duncan Brack and Ed Randall, authors of the Dictionary of Liberal Thought, have kindly agreed to let us publish extracts on Lib Dem Voice. Last month's instalment was Mary Wollstonecraft. This month's entry on Keynes has been selected as it is particularly topical in the current financial climate - and the next two entries to appear, Keynesianism in Februrary, and the Keynes Forum in March, complete the series. If you can't wait until March, the entire Dictionary of Liberal Thought is available on Amazon here and can also be bought at the Westminster Bookshop. John Maynard Keynes 1883-1946 The most ...
The Liberal Democrats Women's Policy Consultation Paper is up here. From a quick first glance it looks pretty good and is seeking to address some of the issues that I've been writing about on this blog over the last 2 years; but I shall report back later when I've had a chance to read it properly. Please go and have a look at it; and that includes men as well as women - any policy on women is going to affect men as well, so better you get your say now and ensure that the policy (whatever that's going to ...
Suzblog presents the not so chirpy edition.
Life is televised enough what with CCTV and reality TV shows without it debauching courts as well. Courts are there primarily for the administration of justice between two parties. The idea of cameras in court to me is a step too far. If people are so interested in a case they can turn up in court [...]
All you need is some chocolate, a microwave, a ruler and a good head for numbers. Good thing I'm not a certain human, as otherwise I'd just eat the evidence before we found out what the speed of light is:
Apart from it being now like a war zone - the treatment I suffered at the hands of Ben Gurion security has put me off Isreal for life. I was interrogated for 45 minutes - scattergun questions designed to either catch me out or see if I was `too calm`. Perhaps this woman might explain more about [...]
Apologies for lack of blogging lately, but I have been getting myself sorted out to move out of my parents' house for the first time and move to London, which is a lot to get your head around, or at least it would have been if I had really thought about it until now. Unfortunately, I now find myself on my own (my housemate isn't going to be here permanently until February) in a house with no
The new Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, has called for an end to ban on court proceedings being broadcast on radio and television. I heard on the grapevine on Friday that the DPP was saying this and Channel 4 have him confirming his position in this video. I agree with the DPP. Broadcasting proceedings would allow the [...]
From Chris Davies MEP (and only a day late this time, Rob's Uncle!) :- ************************ *GETTING IN TO GAZA* *Sunday, 11 January 2009* ************************ 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 ...
Paul Flynn MP writes his belief that our system is one of the cleanest in the world. Firstly, the fact that a system is (apparently) "one of the cleanest" doesn't actually mean it is clean. When Labour are funded by unions (an action I find unfair for those who join unions whilst members of other parties), and the Tories are funded by big business, thereby making sure they both have massive warchests to focus on advertising, I don't consider that clean. Mr Flynn notes the expenditure for the Newport West candidate was £4,000 only. Compared to the incredible amounts spent ...
So there's this new Orwell Prize for Blogs. Fame and glory awaits. Well, awaits someone. Traditionally the Orwell prize has only been for books and journalism, awarded to those who manage to turn political writing into an art form. The growth in political blogging means that they've decided to turn their attention to us, which is very nice of them. But what constitutes art in political blogging? Proper Bloggin' is all about short, punchy comments responding to something or other. The medium of the 'blog' is to highlight other content. Master of this style of political blogging is Guido. His ...
Just landed at the Scotsman's Steamie blog there appears to be an error. Not sure whether to call for a plumber, coder, or just dig up the back up file. The Scotsman do do daily backups I trust? It may have something to do with the fact that Caron sent an email to Kenny Farquharson saying she was surprised at my ommission on the blogroll. Kenny replied that he would get the Techies unto it. Look like something Techie has gone wrong so I guess you can all blame me.
Pendle Lib Dems Press release: Leading Liberal Democrat Councillors have instructed Pendle Council staff to withdraw the planning application for a new waste transfer station at the Fleet Street depot in Nelson. Councillor John David, Leader of Pendle Council, said that Councillors are responding to strong opposition to the scheme from residents in the Bradley area, and also to their own detailed enquiries into what it would mean. The proposal was made on behalf of the Lancashire Waste Partnership which is looking for alternatives to the existing transfer station at Regent Street on the Whitewalls industrial estate. Council David said: ...
Pendle Lib Dems Press release: The Liberal Democrats who form the ruling group on Pendle Council but without an overall majority have laid down a "no cuts" gauntlet to the other parties over the local swimming pools and other leisure services.These are run on behalf of the Council by the Pendle Leisure Trust. "We will not cut out any of these services provided for people in Pendle,"said Councillor John David, leader of the Council. "We challenge the other parties to say the same." A list of possible cuts and higher increases in prices was drawn up by the Pendle Leisure ...
Many Journalists are finding it hard to enter Gaza and report about the slaughter the people of Palestine are going through but North West Liberal Democrats MEP Chris Davies has got in with a delegation of other MEP's and he is blogging about his visit to Gaza over at his blog. This is just another prime example of the power of the blogosphere and people who criticise it need to remember its not the BBC who are in Gaza reporting back its Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies the blogger!
A quick journey into the fantasyland that London's City Hall has become leaves one quite simply lost for words. When in the past under Livingstone there was a degree of discipline, vision and planning (tempered of course by a slight whiff of the unusual) backing up the policies of Transport for London, we now have confusion, contradiction and incoherence flowing out of every orifice, from Boris's mouth and advisers to TfL's own offices. The most amazing part of this farce is the manner in which Londoners seem to passively sit by and watch while London's transport policy falls apart at ...
Channel 4 has started one of those documentary series that justify its existence, this time on the vexed subject of Christianity. Last night was Howard Jacobson's turn to discuss the fact that, lest we forget, Jesus was a jew. He made the point extremely well and it is perhaps the measure of a good documentary that it leaves you slightly uncomfortable and asking yourself questions, which Jacobson's piece did. His interviewees were excellent and the points he made extremely piercing. It was also well filmed and the image of him standing next to a pile of crosses in Jerusalem was ...
So the government is on a drive to promote social mobility, with particular focus on apparently "elitist" professions. I'm in favour of this in principle. In some cases, the statistical bias towards those who are privately educated means that the profession in question cannot possibly reflect the diversity of the available raw talent. My concern, however, is that we will lose sight of the primary function of each of the sectors in question. The main function of the bar, for example, is to provide high-quality legal services to the public. Of course, in doing so, it should ensure that there ...
After my article publishing a Web site address for first steps Nursery the Following link to the Web site for the Crèche at the Hut has been drawn to my attention. Both our excellent Non School based Nurseries run an important service for our local community and both need to receive continued backing and support from Bath & North East Somerset Council as does our very well run School Nursery at...
Prince Harry has been demoted in the latest Royal reshuffle. Following derogatory remarks about a military colleague, the former third in line to the throne will now be twelfth, taking Zara Philips place in the succession. She will move up to fourth, replacing Beatrice, who is far too ugly to be a real princess. Prince Philip was [...]
"A MP taking photographs in public has been stopped and searched under Terrorism Act powers. According to Croydon Guardian, Andrew Pelling, MP for Croydon Central, aroused suspicion when he was taking pictures of a cycle path in his constituency as he was collecting evidence about the problems caused to cyclists by maintenance works. Despite showing his Commons pass, the MP was questioned and searched by two police officers. They issued him with a stop-and-search notice before letting him go." Source BJP 8 January 2009 I reported on the 9th January about the arrest of photographer Reuben Powell who had been ...
The countdown to elections to the European Parliament - to be held in tandem with local government elections on 10th June - is now on. Last week, here on LDV, the Lib Dems' vice-chair of our Euro election campaign, Willie Rennie, staked out the internationalist, liberal principles around which he said the party should fight the elections, and contrasted it with 'lethargic Labour' and 'isolationist Tories'. And, over the weekend, two Lib Dem bloggers also elaborated their own views of Europe, the EU and what the Lib Dems should be saying. James Graham at Quaequam Blog! noted the political muddle ...
It's curious that they're willing to ban 100w+ light bulbs and large plasma screen televisions (which are, apparently, the '4x4s of the living room') but not, you know, 4x4s, or more specifically SUVs. Now I was thinking about these monsterous things earlier today after a commentator said that it was evidence of the market failing to self correct. I guess it depends on what you mean by 'correct.' Seems to me the SUV fad isn't going to last forever whatever happens. Clearly SUVs have a number of disadvantages. They waste oil, which is a finite resource. They're expensive to buy ...
Following yesterday's Quote of the Week, a short poll: View Poll: #1329618
I am grateful to Costigan Quist for pointing me towards the results of an annual nationwide survey of secondary school children published by Ofsted. This paints a healthily balanced picture of children's lives. Looking at the statistics for Luton's children, and comparing these with the national average, is instructive. I got a positive impression of many aspects of the children's lives. Luton
Portsmouth Conservative councillor Lee Hunt has quit the Conservative council group in a dispute over claims of a hate campaign and whether Flick Drummond, the Conservative candidate for Portsmouth South, is the right person to take on Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock. The Portsmouth News reports: A long-serving Tory councillor has quit his party after claiming he was the victim of a hate campaign. Councillor Lee Hunt resigned as the Tory whip at a group meeting on Friday saying he could 'no longer stomach' his colleagues' actions. The Central Southsea councillor of 10 years says he was forced to quit ...
I ask because another Labour cock-up, this time by Doncaster Council, has emerged regarding social services (on top of the Norwich one with the elderly being turfed out of homes only to be taken up by senior officers and Baby P in Haringey). If these were all Lib Dem councils you'd never hear the end [...]
Mon 12th
08:58
Take AK-47, aim at foot, fire at will... an object lesson in how to lose sympathy by Hamas
The overall leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, pictured to the left, is based in Syria, where he lives. As its official leader, his words carry much weight amongst Palestinians, regardless of their political persuasion or degree of militancy. So, when he suggests that any hope of a peace settlement has been destroyed forever, has he really considered what message he is sending out to the wider
This morning's Daily Telegraph indicates that the Government has failed to learn the lessons from losing 30 million personal data files in two years. They tell us that staff are still able to copy unencrypted information from internal databases on to USB sticks, the portable memory devices that have been involved in many of the recent high-profile security breaches whilst the health and transport departments - as well as the Driving and Vehicle Licensing Agency - have failed to make encryption mandatory despite the recommendations of a Cabinet Office report last year: The Department for Children, Schools and Families and ...
I have today published my January 2009 update to West End Community Council. Subjects covered include : * Graffiti - Magdalen Green and surrounding area * Speed Limit - western end of Perth Road * Network Rail Mast * West End Christmas Week De-Brief Meeting * Ground at High Mill * Paint on road and pavements in Thomson Street * Former Homebase site * Handrail Seafield Road * Fencing at rail line * Hawkhill by-pass at Hunter Street junction * Tay Rope Works Planning Inquiry The Community Council meeting takes place this Tuesday at 7pm at Logie St John's (Cross) ...
This got quite a flurry of interest and amusing comments when on Saturday I announced on Facebook that a large tonnage of manure had been delivered for use on our allotment. So we have spent a large part of the weekend shovelling the stuff into wheelbarrows and spreading it on the land. We had originally estimated 3 tonnes of the stuff had turned up. We now think it is about 5 tonnes.Since we are
They should be stating their economic predictions so that people can judge their actions. `Governments are not in the business of making predictions on unemployment` - James Purnell He could also not reveal the figures by which the £2,500 subsidy would be additionality or for people who would have got jobs anyway.
Mon 12th
08:10
The Monday morning blog: National Express starting the year as they intend carrying on
I would have been hopping mad had I been booked on the 7.40am train from Newcastle to London today. This is the fast service to London and the one National Express loves to cancel. And today, yet again rather than bother themselves with putting on the scheduled service, National Excess has cancelled the service they regard as optional. The train arrived as scheduled from Edinburgh and at that
I can understand those that are on IB or JSA - what about those that have too many savings to have taken up such benefits? If these people are not included in this `scheme` to give a `golden hello` to employers will these people be discriminated against both in society as unemployed people AND as [...]
Reading James Graham's sixth wish for 2009 reminded me of a moan I have. Opponents of the Lisbon Treaty complain that asking the Irish people to vote again is undemocratic, a claim that seems to have been uncritically accepted (or, at least, barely challenged) across the board. But it isn't. It may be politically foolish, but it isn't undemocratic. Should William Wilberforce have given up the fight to abolish slavery after it was rejected for the first time? Should opponents of the EU abandon their fight because the UK has already voted for Europe once already? In the 2004 European ...
Another day, another report of declining newspaper circulations. It's statistics like these that produce the endless flood of articles and books about the end of professional journalists, the informed citizen and, even, modern culture. Cinema never died - it just went digital I'm just old enough to remember when VHS video recorders became cheap. Likewise when computer consoles and wide-screen
Overnight I recieved the following message on Facebook from Abbas Goya creator of the Group A note from Jerusalem -- We need to STOP Israeli assualt NOW!! It looks as if along with the MSM Facebook is trying to hide the world from the facts of what is going on in Gaza at the behest of Israel. Warning if you follow on the link below you may find it disturbing. However I make no apology for that, this is the reality of what is going on. This is why the assault on Gaza must stop now and not be allowed ...
The Israeli army had mobilised 10,000 of their reservists at the start of the current conflict with Gaza. Prime Minster Ehud Olmert has begun to send these troops into Gaza in the latest escalation. The commander of the Israeli force that already is occupying Gaza, Major-General Yoav Galant, argues that the Israeli military has a "once in a generation" opportunity to end the threat from Hamas and ensure Israel's security in the south for many years. Prime Minister Olmert thinks there are at least a few more days of fighting required. I hope America is paying attention to the number ...
Massive surprise to everyone but Guantanamo is going to have to wait. Obama supporters said, "but let's just close it! Yes we can, remember? All we need is hope remember?" He replied, "ah but it's complicated." Sigh
Counter-factual history publishing ("what would have happened if...") hit the zenith of its 1990s popularity bubble when I was at UCL reading history. A lot of my professors could have made a killing. They were, however, too dedicated to real history to contemplate living off royalties for speculating about what didn't happen. At the exact same time, Tony Blair was re-inventing counter-factual politics. In [...]
You can talk about Israel/Gaza until you're blue in the face - who's right, who's wrong yet until you are actually on the ground it doesn't become concrete. Chris Davies MEP related his journey today into Gaza: From Chris Davies MEP On Sunday I became one of the very first 'observers' to gain access to the Gaza Strip [...]
I was quite interested in reading the article Fast rail hub plan for Heathrow which appeared on the Financial Times website on 4th January 2009. The article suggests that a new high-speed rail system which links London Heathrow to the north of England and the rest of Europe through the Channel Tunnel are part of plans being considered by ministers.
Endings and beginnings, as the Doctor's New Adventures go out in a blaze: Lungbarrow provides some of the answers from Sylv's decade, in new questions; The Dying Days introduces Paul McGann at the series' end; landmark unfinished story So Vile a Sin appears at last; The Well-Mannered War says "Bye-bye!" for Tom; and Bernice voyages into several spin-off series. Then Lawrence Miles provides the powerhouse of ideas that drive the BBC Books, and beyond... Doctor Who - Alien Bodies "It was a dead body! Dead! Its biodata was of no use!" "A legend never dies, Cousin. You should know that." ...
