I am seriously considering going to sleep before midnight. Why? Because tomorrow I journey forth to Marsden. You see, Marsden has this thing for Imbolc, and tomorrow is... well... The Fire Circus Skills Workshop. >:D Mwahahahahahahahahahaha! Furthermore: >:D
Not just a collaborative blog, Freedom Central is the new headquarters of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, and I have now visited it. They make a very nice cup of tea (thanks, Rachel!) and have a nice view out of the windows. It's pretty hi-tech, so I'm sure it will be a great success. Yes, Liberal Bureaucracy is brought to you live from Wales, where I'm accompanying Ros on her first weekend trip as
... quite possibly the most bizarre Doctor Who fanvid ever (and yes, I know I am making a bold allegation there): See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor. It's a Doctor Who Monsters fanvid, with a soundtrack which is a mashup of Eminem and the Benny Hill Theme. It can't get weirder than that, surely?
www.scotlibdems.org.uk
www.scotlibdems.org.uk
I cannot believe that Ulrika Jonsson has won Celebrity Big Brother. A number of work colleagues watch the show and I don't know one that wanted her to win, and listening to the audience outside the Big Brother house, nobody in the crowd wanted her to win. I guess it could proves one thing. That if you don't vote your opinions don't count.
Jasper is my four year old nephew. He was being looked after by my mother on Tuesday and Mum wanted to watch the Obama Inauguration. Because it's not the sort of programming Jasper usually watches, she explained to him that she wanted to watch the most important man in America on TV. Jasper's father (my brother) is off to a trade show in the States. So naturally Jasper assumed that his daddy was about to be on TV. He was most disappointed by the reality.
At 11.55 tonight it's BBC4's latest episode of The New Avengers: Faces, an impressive adventure that reels you in slowly and really grabs you by the end. It's the fourth and perhaps the best of The Avengers' 'doubles' stories, going for broke with Steed, Gambit and Purdey all replaced by doppelgängers - or are they? Patrick Macnee and Joanna Lumley in particular are brilliant, and you can also catch Joanna on the iPlayer in The Psychedelic Spy, a drug-soaked, disturbing '60s-set thriller that's been playing on BBC7 all week (watch out for spoilers about both if you read on). "Irreplaceable." ...
Some of you will know I have long had an interest in money. Not in the sense that I have lots of it, though it would be nice if I did, but in how it works, what it is supposed to do, and how well it does it. I had long ago predicted a catastrophe in the current system, believing it to be systemically flawed, and have long hoped that when it came it would be terminal. It was not a terribly learned or technically sophisticated analysis, and I have had to re-think lots of it - especially the idea ...
The link is to a story where The Times and a juror are being taken to court for criticising the courts.
Pendle MP Gordon Prentice was invited to an event at Ghausia Masjid Nelson by the Lancashire Council of Mosques to hear the views of residents about Gaza, he came but I think he went away with a little shock. The Pendle MP made a speech in which he pointed out his position on the Gaza troubles but was he in for a surprise to the questions he got asked. I asked the following two question: Can we as a country make a difference to the relations in Gaza if our Foreign Secretary is insulting foreign politicians in their own drawing ...
The death of Bert Hazell the other day made we wonder who the oldest surviving Liberal MP is (leaving aside a certain peer from Rutland). Having looked up the obvious candidates, my oldest three - in reverse order - is: Emlyn Hooson (born 26 March 1925)Clement Freud (born 24 April 1924)George Mackie (born 10 July 1919)Unless, of course, you know better. Jeremy Thorpe, Eric Avebury and Cyril Smith are all younger than this trio, but there may be others I have forgotten. I was surprised to discover that Roderic Bowen had still been alive when he died a few years ...
My column from today's Liberal Democrat News. No more fun When the Department for National Heritage was established by John Major, its first secretary of state, David Mellor, was widely known as the "minister for fun". Nowadays it is called the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and at its question time on Monday there was precious little fun is sight. Which was a pity, because we could have done with some. Later that day Alistair Darling explained why he was giving billions more to the banks. Then we had a statement on the conflict in Gaza and debate on ...
Today the English Democrats posted a story on their website attacking somebody for having a scottish accent. The person is english born, lived in England most of their life except for a few years in their childhood, and lives in England. To quote Martin Niemoller: First they came for the Communists but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade
We are launching a survey of small businesses across the region tomorrow, Saturday. It is part of a survey that is being carried out across the country by Liberal Democrats, under the direction of the Parliamentary Business and Enterprise Team. (Guess who wrote the original!?) The launch will be taking place in a small business in Gateshead: a shop owned by my ward colleague, Cllr John McClurey.
A busy day with meetings with several fellow councillors on various issues including the revenue and capital budgets for 2009/10. This followed on from an administration group of Labour and LibDem councillors last night. The City Council Leader has now called has called for a meeting of all the political group leaders to secure an agreement on a budget which would freeze the council tax for 2009/10 whilst making all effort to protect service provision. Tonight's "Evening Telegraph" covered this (click on the headline above to view more). As I said to the Tele : "It is extremely important, particularly ...
Just wondering if anyone's on last.fm listening to music? My id is ipodbaby - if you want give me a shoutout
Dundee Liberal Democrats have led the campaign to improve pavements in the city. Before the last election, it was the LibDems who proposed increasing annual expenditure on unadopted pavments - some of the worst conditioned footpaths in the City - and the Council has since done this - an increase of two and a half times each year on these pavements. Chris Hall is pictured (top right) in Nairn Street, one of the many pavements in the area he is campaigning to have upgraded. "I think it's important that there are good quality pavements throughout the area - it is ...
... on being selected as Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Southend West, the seat of David Amess (the chicken-runner from Basildon). Peter is a Lib Dem blogger, formerly with Liberal Review (in many ways the precursor to LDV), and latterly at his own Eastern/European blog. The Southend Echo reports: The Liberal Democrats have appointed Peter Welch to contest the Southend West seat. The party believes he will bring wide experience of politics at national and international level to a parliamentary seat they have always had hopes of winning. Mr Welch said: "I am enormously pleased to be part of a ...
Commenting on the confirmation that Britain is now in recession, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said: "As the figures confirm what everyone in Britain has seen coming for a long time, Gordon Brown still seems to be living in denial about the causes of this recession." "In blaming everything on the US, Brown is desperately seeking to pull the wool over our eyes and...
Commenting on the naming of four potential sites for new nuclear power stations, Liberal Democrat Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Simon Hughes said: "Nuclear power is an outdated and superficial answer to Britain's energy needs. It is dangerous and expensive and it won't fill the energy gap or help the fight against climate change." "Britain needs 21st...
World at One - I thought the way he answered the questions blew Brown out of the water.
Thanks to local news website Reading List for bringing the apparent confusion of a local Conservative councillor on waste charging to my attention. Cllr Dave Luckett expresses relief at the news earlier in the week that the government's plans to pilot so-called "bin taxes" have hit the buffers. Cllr Luckett attacks the proposals as an: "unfair stealth tax...which could do more harm than just the wallet" Do we deduce from this therefore that Cllr Luckett is not aware that Reading Borough Council already charges residents in Reading for some waste collection services, over and above Council Tax? The Conservative group has been virtually silent on this subject ...
A new Gang of Four has emerged out of the shocking happenings within the Liberal Democrat group on Aberdeenshire Council There was another heated meeting of the Council yesterday relating to Donald Trump's golf resort.. This time it was the turn of Paul Johnston to face the ire of his fellow liberal democrats [sic]*. Cllr Johnston was cleared earlier this month by the Standards Commission. However, it was the support of fellow councillor Debra Storr at the Council meeting on 2 October, 2007. Her claim in defence of Paul that he should be considered innocent until proven otherwise. Led to ...
In fact, this one came yesterday and we at LDV missed it. But frankly it's becoming almost passé to note that the Lib Dems' shadow chancellor is more trusted than any other politician to sort out the current financial crisis. Still it'd be a shame not to record the moment, as measured by a ComRes survey of 220 business leaders for the Independent: Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, who predicted that the housing and personal debt bubble would burst, enjoys more trust in the business world than Mr Brown, David Cameron, the Chancellor Alistair Darling and his Tory ...
The St Helens Reporter brings us news of an embarrassment for a Lib Dem councillor, following online comments he made via Facebook, remarking that it was a "great shame" that two recently deceased Labour councillors did not represent Lib Dem target wards: During the January 11 posting, [Councillor David Crowther] wrote: "It might be three before long - at least one other is rumoured to be seriously ill - great shame their (sic) not our target seats, but at least it will give us the chance to see how strong they are and it will seriously distract them for a ...
Writing on Conservative Home, Tim Montgomerie reports that Eric Pickles, the new Tory chairman, is off on a tour of Conservative/Lib Dem marginals in the West Country. He goes on: this visit communicates two of the big themes that Eric Pickles wants to characterise his tenure at CCHQ: graft (he promises to match the sacrifice of volunteers) and a focus on the LibDems. With opinion polls pointing towards a perhaps decisive increase in the Tory lead some party strategists are recommending a significant shift of battleground resources into unseating Liberal Democrat MPs. Eric Pickles is a big advocate of the ...
Advice surgery this morning was as ever grueling as ever with tragedies too personal to relate here. Happily my first afternoon visit was a success story and just the best happy ending. Back a while I went in to do battle for a woman (Bonnie) living in a tiny, dilapidated flat, with infestations and damp and mold and general horribleness that most would not put up with. Perhaps even worse there was no room to move at all - desperately bad situation. With two children, husband and sister (who she looks after) Bonnie is one of those who fights and ...
It has been brought to my attention that the rate of interest paid on income and corporation tax overpaid is about to drop. To make life simple, there is an automatic link between the base rate and the rates of interest paid and charged, and with the recent rapid drop in the base rate, it's gotten to the point where it was hardly worth calculating the interest. However, with the base rate at
I have found the Conservatives' recent series of full page adverts in the local paper rather amusing. Bankrolled by big business and wealthy private donors they can afford this extravagant marketing tool, whilst piggy-backing on the real work done by the long-standing Liberal Democrat MPs Tom Brake and Paul Burstow. You will have to excuse [...]
Greenpeace are urging us to lobby the 57 (like Heinz varieties!) Labour MPs who've said they are against Heathrow expansion. Why? Because the Government has given way and will, after all, let Parliament vote on the issue. I've just emailed this letter to Islington South MP Emily Thornberry, who is one of the 57. Dear Emily, [...]
Here is the latest offering from Tavish TV, with guest appearance by Jo Swinson MP. And on Scottish Forests with guest appearances by Jeremy Purvis MP and Jim Hume MSP
An attempt by myself and others to introduce a ban from 2015 on building new coal fired power stations unless equipped with CCS was yesterday ruled inadmissable by the chairman of the environment committee (we have signed up to some rules that amount to self castration). I raised the issue again at a CCS conference in addition Berlin and all the power company people shook their heads. With a cap and trade emissions control system in place the introduction of emission performance standards shouldn't really be necessary but regulatory instruments in the environmental field have a track record of success. ...
Bad news for Islington from TfL. The long-awaited step-free access for Highbury & Islington and Finsbury Park stations has been deferred, without any date being set. Effectively, it's now unlikely to happen. Step-free access is essential for people with mobility problems - and extremely useful for able-bodied travellers with pushchairs or luggage too. The ideal of step-free [...]
Members of the Palestine Delegation meet (Wednesday). We have the usual unfocused exchange of views and eventually agree to apply to the parliament's managers (the group leaders) for a special delegation to be allowed to travel to Palestine. Think we are all agreed that we will want to talk to both Hamas and Fatah representatives about re-establishment of a unity government. The news that George Mitchell is to be appointed US envoy brings some cheer.
According to Huffpo Palin can't even keep the promise of donating those clothes she received from Republican funds to charity. It's a good job that they didn't elect her Vice President then!
According to the website of the UK Borders Agency, "The Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill will lay down a radical new approach to British citizenship that will require all migrants to speak English and obey the law if they want to gain citizenship and stay permanently in Britain - while speeding up the path to citizenship for those who contribute to the community by being active citizens
It was on with the glad rags and off to the Dorchester last evening, for a black tie dinner to celebrate the Chinese New Year of the Ox. The invitation was actually to Nick, but as he was away from Westminster, he asked me to represent the Party. The rather grand event was attended by the Chinese Ambassador, who is fast winning friends here by combining diplomatic skills and a sense of humour, and organised by the 48 Group Club. Also known as 'the Icebreakers', this group was founded fifty years ago by the first UK companies to do business ...
Just two days ago I wrote about how the Internet is making it more difficult for governments to sneak through dodgy laws, with bloggers and activists frequently doing the scrunity that MPs are unable to. At the end of that piece I asked "So which ludicrous Labour scheme shall we tackle next?" And lo, the answer arrived in my Inbox this morning with the latest No2ID newsletter. Labour, in that lovely cuddly way they have, appear to be trying to smuggle through a major change in the law at the end of a bill. According to No2ID, the innocuous-sounding "Coroners ...
A new year naturally focuses minds on new things and Wales has been no different in this respect. But the contrast between the official story and the reality in January has been stark... The Bandwagon Departs That official story began in the unusual surroundings of the Seaside Social and Labour Club in Port Talbot, which hosted the first public consultation event of the All-Wales Convention. This
Blue State Digital (BSD), one of the key firms behind Barack Obama's campaign, is certainly an impressive outfit which gets the internet. But that makes all the more surprising the piece published today on The Guardian website by Seth Reznik about British politics and uses of the internet. Let's take a few quotes: Ken Livingstone, despite his disappointing loss, was one who learnt those lessons. Working with BSD, his campaign set out a range of ways in which barriers to involvement could be torn down. Instead of hiding activist events behind password-protected firewalls, any Londoner could find information about ways ...
Gobsmacked by number of closed-down shops on first visit to Sheffield for a couple of months.
In what might come to be regular feature, here's my selection of interesting blog posts from the Lib Dem Blogs aggregator in the last 24 hours: Progressive Politics thinks the Lib Dems aren't socialist enough for his taste. Bridget Fox draws attention to another dismally unpredictable attempt to abuse our personal data. Peter Black on Cameron's attempt to remind everyone that Labour is the same party that sent the country to hell in the late 70's Caron's Musings put me off children for life (wasn't hard though).
Professor Anthony King of Essex University has become a standard feature of election night programmes in Britain, his lugubrious expression masking an acute mind and incisive wit. As politicians (of all parties) try to spin how even the worst electoral disaster is in fact not too bad at all, he can plunge his stiletto [...]
Anyone who watched the news and Dragons Eye last night could not have failed to be a little mystified by what exactly was going on with Edwina Hart. It seemed to go something like this..... 1. Dragons Eye uncovered that the Health Minister had ignored advice by her top officials for a single South Wales neurosurgery site. 2. Edwina Hart announces to the press (not to the Senedd) that
After the scare last year that Sainsbury's or an equivalent was going to move into Hampstead High Street the shops on the High Street were being watched nervously by residents and fellow traders. In itself this might not be a problem but there was a wider fear that the current small shops would be amalgamated together, thus loosing a retail shop and that it would be a brash chain, thus loosing the local charm. At a time of recession (official today!) there was a greater fear that shops would lie empty and rot would set in. This an important little ...
We've had some comments from local residents about a planning application for a Sainsbury's outlet on the unused land on the corner of Greenhill Road and Booker Avenue (L18). This is where the garage used to be and is opposite the pub. At the moment the application is not valid because there is something missing so no progress can be made in considering this or taking it forward to the planning committee. I know that some local residents have wanted to send in objections, but I am told it is best to wait until it's clear that the application is ...
Gratulerer!* In 1912 Norwegian Roald Amundsen's team beat the plucky Brits lead by Captain Robert Scott to be the first to the South Pole. This year saw the inaugural Amundsen polar race and as 97 years ago it was Norway first but Britain second. Our team of James Cracknell, Ben Fogle and Dr Ed Coats even put in a final 27 non-stop hours on their skies but were still 20 hours behind the Norwegian team of Rune Malterud and Stian Aker. The winners reached the pole in just 17 days and 11 hours when the Brits were 31.8 miles (51km) ...
Ceredigion's Welsh Liberal Democrat MP Mark Williams has secured a debate at Westminster on changes to the police funding formula, which could leave Welsh forces with a shortfall of millions of pounds. In the Policing Green Paper of last year, the Government indicated their intention to implement the funding formula in full, which Dyfed-Powys Police have warned would cost them £6 million from
Oh, Mr Peter Vain, how we have missed you... like a heliotrope-hued hole in the head! Has losing his cushy ministerial job... and his OTHER cushy ministerial job... cured him of his magenta-manicured megalomania and made him a better person? Let us see... No sooner has he been found GUILTY of "serious and substantial failures" to report the thousands of pounds donated to his doomed campaign to deputy-lead Hard Labour, than up he pops in the Grauniad to document his STRUGGLE to clear his name. A clue for you, you old firebrick-brushed fraud: it's a struggle BECAUSE you are GUILTY! ...
Old is the new new.
...if you are a strange political anorak like me. Or indeed if you simply have a respect for basic human rights such as those contained in the Geneva Convention... President Obama signs an executive order to close Guantanamo camp on Day Two in office. Note that behind him are US Flag Officers who campaigned for the US to return to its core values in detaining and interrogating suspects. I have
A good meeting of the Liverpool Commission last night. We had evidence from the schools parliament, the youth engagement team, reps from two of the Universities in Liverpool, operation black vote and others. The "others" included a 25 year old executive member from Brent ( I am sure I would have been very daunted by that responsibility when I was 25). We were looking at the sort of barriers that prevent people thinking of becoming councillors, but also at some of the perception issues and communication issues that exist. The Commission has three more meetings to go and each time ...
Bexley LBC, East Wickham Con 798 (26.8; -5.2) BNP 790 (26.5; +12.4) Lab 700 (23.5; +1.5) LD Elizabeth Grace Goodlad 564 (18.9; +2.9) English Democrats 128 (4.3; -4.9) [UKIP (0.0; -6.8)] Majority 8 Turnout 36.9% Con hold Percentage change is since May 2006. Mid Sussex DC, Bentswood LD Irene Balls 514 (36.9; +1.4) Lab 456 (32.7; -2.6) Con 332 (23.8; -5.4) BNP 92 (6.6; +6.6) Majority 58 Turnout
I wrote in December about Labour councillors on Reading Borough Council publicly endorsing Lib Dem housing campaigns, when previously they had attacked them. Well, they're at it again this week, apparently supporting our campaign for an end to the hated "Tenant Tax" whereby a big percentage of council house rents go straight into the Treasury's coffers. When Cllr Gareth Epps, Group Leader of the Lib Dems on Reading Borough Council called on Labour Councillors to do something about this scandal in December the Leader of the Council refused. Nationally, the cross-party Local Government Association has campaigned on this issue under the banner "My Rent Money Went to ...
There's some coverage today of David Cameron's speech to the left-of-centre Demos think-tank yesterday, in which he set out how the Tory party under his leadership would follow a progressive agenda. You can read the BBC report here, and the speech in full here. I'll pick up two points. The first is made by Mary Wakefield over at the Spectator's Coffee House blog, in which she praises Tory education policy but warns Mr Cameron against appearing a one-trick pony: ... when education came up during the Q and A (after an hour of generalised and fairly soporific Burkean rhetoric) Cameron's ...
The Political Survey 2005 : www.politicalsurvey2005.com/ reveals to no great surprise that I'm politically left-wing. With regard to political compatibility it suggests that of all the largest political parties it is with the Greens whom I have the greatest similarity of views, with twice as many respondents sharing similar views,than do Labour and Lib Dem inclined voters. It would have been interesting to compare my typical views with those held by the continuing Liberal party, but they are not included in the comparison chart. Happily there are no BNP or UKIP supporters with whom I share commonalities with, despite being ...
To the commons about the NR bonus scheme. I think it's crucial politically that if he did that we talk about it. Why? 1. NR bonuses are loathed by the majority of the electorate 2. If he did we can put the knife in as either he DID lie OR he just doesn't have a clue [...]
I'm only going to do a quick one today. But has anyone noticed recently, that the blogs of the Welsh Lib Dems seem to be setting on fire? Before, it was just the respectable and dedicated Peter Black, chipping away daily. With the occasional post from other party members on their blogs. Now, it seems we can't move for Lib Dem blogs! And I must say, its amazing. Every blog reflects a slight difference of opinion on some issues, depending where they're from, what they do, etc. But what hasn't ceased to amaze me since I've started reading a lot ...
When I talk to elected politicians, trying to persuade them of the virtues of becoming a blogger, the two most common concerns are, "how much time will it take?" and "why do I want to do something that will attract lots of eccentric or rude comments?" The first is absolutely a sensible question to think about - blogging well takes time and you should know what you're getting yourself in to. The fears behind the second though are often exaggerated or misplaced. In part I think this is because some of the most high profile political blogs have a very ...
It is in the paper so it must be official. Not quite accurate on one point (there is a "former" which is news to me). But the bit at the end is spot on: Mr Welch said: "I am enormously pleased to be part of a team which is battling hard for the residents of the town. "There is a very strong Liberal Democrat tradition in Southend West and it is a privilege to be taking that forward." It is a bit sad that they don't find more space to report on Graham Longley. We work as a team here ...
Hurray! David Cameron and George Osborne have hit the airwaves to exhort Britons to think positive. The press release is a work of genius. Analysts are now expecting markets to rally forthwith as we all just forget about this silly recession. Here are the best bits of the press release: George Osborne stressed the need to restore confidence after figures showed that GDP fell by 1.5% in the last quarter."Britons absolutely need to cheer up if they are going to start blindly spending the money that they don't have again." "The Conservatives absolutely want to help build consumer and market ...
Quote of the day, from mooism:He has ceased to rule! His term has expired! Bereft of power, he rests in Texas! His actions are now history! He's left the White House, started on his memoirs and joined the international lecture circuit! He is an ex-president! As ramtops says: Please read No2ID's latest newsletter, and then use writetothem.com to write to your MP about it. The icon for this post is aimed at the government for this. Mitch Benn's daughter? Sounds exactly like my Small Person was with computers at that age. Small Person never ordered anything off ebay, or poured ...
After the success of the Bush shoeing game Sock and Awe, another game has entered the world of politician humiliation but this one is the player throwing money at Brown so he can bail out even more banks. The Prime Minister is wasting money and this game is a must play, to visit the game site follow the link!
Oh dear. The Guardian seems to be having some trouble with maths today: In an Observer poll just over a year ago, an overwhelming majority of SDLP delegates at their annual conference voted in favour of merging with the republic's largest party, Fianna Fáil. Out of 40 delegates surveyed, 29% said they wanted to join forces with Fianna Fáil. [My emphasis] If I was the editor, I'd go and bite some ankles. Nothing like having some teeth in your leg to improve your arithmetic I find. Woof woof.
Nigel Clough one of my all-time Nottingham Forest favourites with 300+ appearances in the Garibaldi shirt leads out the Rams for the FA Cup contest between Derby and the Tricky Trees. Hopefully Nigel will be given a respectful and generous reception from the Reds faithful. Some Forest fans were not happy that new Forest manager, Billy Davies, had himself a largely successful tenure as Derby County manager. Frankly, it's his track record that is key and having got Derby promoted to the Premier League and previously taken Preston North End into the play-offs, his experience at Championship level makes him ...
The Conservative leader on Swansea Council has the front page in today's South Wales Evening Post seeking to justify his poor attendance record at Council meetings by claiming that most of them are a waste of time. René Kinzett only attended 13 per cent of committee meetings since last April. His defence is that a number of them are pointless: He said: "The member support and development working group is a total waste of time. It does not make any decisions whatsoever. What is the point in attending meetings that have no decision-making powers? "The constitution working group is another ...
Just a reminder!
You get rid of one bad law, and they come back with worse. This week we saw off Labour plans to hide MPs expenses. Now they want to expose our personal information to most organisations you can name and more you may never have heard of. No permission needed - you give your details to [...]
A new year naturally focuses minds on new things and Wales has been no different in this respect. But the contrast between the official story and the reality in January has been stark... The Bandwagon Departs That official story began in the unusual surroundings of the Seaside Social and Labour Club in Port Talbot, which hosted the first public consultation event of the All-Wales Convention. This was a moment of such earth-shattering importance that the BBC even wheeled out Wyre Davies to cover it on the Six O'Clock News (in probably the first national news story about Welsh devolution since ...
Twenty years ago I started working at Peterborough Station as the Senior Supervisor for British Rail Catering. Back then we had a small newsagents run by Ursula, a cafe bar on platform 4, Upper Crust on platform 2 plus the main cafe/bar also on platform 2. I remember Hazel the Asst Manager who lived in Wisbeach, Craig the Deputy Manager - Hazel and I disliked Craig as he was on our graduate fast track management scheme - and Liz the General Manager, there were lots of other staff but that was the management team. The main cafe was open 24hours ...
Blogging MP Tom Harris has got himself a new sleek template and blog, which just beats most templates I have seen. When you see templates like the new template of Tom Harris it makes you think is Blogger, what its cracked up to be? Personally I am one of those people who love anything Google and would rather stick with Blogger over Wordpress, but most people prefer Wordpress. Blogger, is a great tool and I think it is the best blogging platform available but only if they gave you better templates, that are like the Wordpress templates available. If Blogger ...
We can stop using caveat-heavy phrases such as 'the looming recession' - it's now officially here, as the BBC reports: The UK is officially in recession for the first time since the early 1990s, government figures have confirmed. Gross domestic product fell by 1.5% in 2008's final quarter, following on from a 0.6% contraction in the previous three months. That means that the widely accepted definition of a recession - two consecutive quarters of falling economic growth - has been met. It also represents the biggest quarter-on-quarter decline since 1980. Still, look on the bright side ... it's Friday.
is...... Rep Kirsten Gillibrand! Huffpo has the full lowdown
Yes. Kirsten Gillibrand (right). Never heard of her? Shame on you. (Mind you, nor had I) Caroline Kennedy's last minute withdrawal from the replacement stakes is reported to have involved tax and personal problems. My own take is that Kennedy did not deserve to be a Senator at this stage because, quite frankly, she was useless. You only have to count the number of "ya knows" in the interview
It was interesting to hear Vince Cable say that his first marriage caused familial strife. The arguments raised - mixed marriages never work and `what will the neighbours think?`. They also spoke of how friends supported them. This will ring bells with the older LGBT crowd (if not the younger) - `Gay relationships never work` and [...]
Given the 20 minutes speech interview at 8:10 with Gordon Brown I have suggested to the BBC (I didn't use speech lined out!) that the other parties should also have 2o minutes on the same topic at 8:10 (for 20 minutes each). Two reasons were given: 1. It's important in terms of balance - we could have [...]
Spending Monday in my constituency this week meant I missed the chance to meet the Turkish prime minister, who was visiting Brussels to press his country's case for speeding up EU accession negotiations. But I learned a lot about the spending of EU funds in Bristol: a lot of money has been ploughed into community facilities in the city's less-well-off areas such as a community centre in Withywood, a creative media centre for young people in Knowle West, educational facilities at Bristol Academy and a childrens' scrapstore. By and large I think it has been well targeted. If the city ...
It's every politician's nightmare - leaving information that should be for your eyes only in the copying machine. Well it just happened - to Labour in Haringey. As the Haringey Independent, who have seen the document, reports Labour predicts it will lose the next Haringey Council elections - due in 2010 - and that the Lib Dems will win by 33 seats to Labour's 24 (with no councillors for Conservatives, Greens or others). Way to go! Highate councillor Neil Williams was the lucky man to find the document on the photocopier, as he recounts on his blog.
East Wickham Ward, 22 January: Steven Hall (Conservative) 798; Michael Barnbrook (BNP) 790; Pat Ball (Labour) 700; Grace Goodlad (Liberal Democrat) 564; Laurence Williams (English Democrat) 128. Tory majority: 8. Talk about a cliff-hanger. I should think the BNP must be ready metaphorically to kill the English Democrat for standing.
Peter Hain will no doubt hope that his apology to the House of Commons for breaching its standards through his non-declaration of more than £100,000 of campaign donations will be the end of the matter. However, his former campaign manager seems determined to ensure that the affair continues for some time to come. One of the reasons for this is that despite his apology, Mr. Hain does not appear to have fully accepted responsibility for what happened. In his letter to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner he says: "I have never been given any explanation as to why the procedure in ...
The Conservative Leader tried to conjure up the ghost of the 1970s and all the bad memories of the winter of discontent and the intervention of the International Monetary Fund in the British economy yesterday by warning that Britain may have to borrow billions of pounds from the IMF again so as to keep the economy afloat: In remarks that are likely to provoke Labour charges that he is running down the economy, the Tory leader spoke of a "frightening and worrying" scenario in which the nation's finances run dry. "If we continue on Labour's path of fiscal irresponsibility, at ...
Remember the first round of bank bailout loans last Autumn - the first time Gordon saved the world. Most of the banks accepted the money they desperately needed to cover the growing black hole created by their bad loans, securities and the rest of it. But Barclays didn't. Instead, they went to the middle east and raised absurdly expensive additional funding from private individuals. Why did Barclays reject my money? I was quite offended, but I don't think I should take it personally. The problem, I think, was that executives at Barclays Bank, poor dears, wrongly thought that Brown and ...
I am quickly posting this message below. Please act on it if you can This is one of the most serious threats to our liberty and privacy we've yet seen. Please read our briefing and act now. The government is trying to remove all limits on the use of our private information by officials. This means taking your information from anywhere and passing it anywhere they like - including medical records, financial records, communications data, ID information. The Database State is now a direct threat, not a theory. Clause 152 of the Coroners and Justice Bill, due for its first ...
Congratulations to Tom Harris who has taken his blog away from Wordpress and given it a slick new makeover. There's lots of red, to take him back to his tribal roots - which is in contrast to the British Gas ad at the top of the page. Ironically, I first saw it just as someone was on GMTV talking about how British Gas's 10% gas price cut wouldn't be felt by the most vulnerable as prepayment meters and people on the social tariff wouldn't get it. I think the site looks more professional than it did before and is clearly ...
With Jonathan Ross returning to our screens this evening, it is time to remember the words of the Headmaster in Alan Bennett's Forty Years On: "Mark my words, when a society has to resort to the lavatory for its humour, the writing is on the wall."
I have linked to Dominic McGonigal's web log about copyright terms. When it comes, for example, to a video with music there are normally three copyrights. There is an original copyright in the music (the dots) which exists whoever plays the music. Then there is a copyright in the musical recording which exists for the performers. Then there is a visual copyright in the video itself. These
My supermarket bashing moves from ASDA to Sainsbury's this week. How many of you knew that each week Sainsbury's sent 42 tonnes of food to landfill? And if I have read the report and the article in yesterday's Metro correctly that is just in Scotland! Imagine how much more horrendous that figure is if you count the whole of the UK? Now, I know they are now proposing to send this waste to a biomass plant to turn it into electricity instead which possibly could power 21,000 homes - although it doesn't actually state how long it will power those ...
The Liberal Democrats have warned that the Government's failure to put in place a system to correct millions of errors in the public's personal information held by Departments would be disastrous for new public data-sharing proposals. A series of Freedom of Information requests to Government departments and agencies from the Data Protection Company, Garlik, revealed that while millions of pieces
Welsh Liberal Democrat European spokesperson, Mike German, has expressed his deep frustration at the £77 million being sent back to Europe because of Labour-Plaid incompetence and lack of vision. As a result of questions from Mike German during the scrutiny of the First Minister and officials in the European Committee, it was revealed that Wales will send back 5% of the Structural Funds given to
Fri 23rd
01:34
This entry is brought to you by insomnia, paranoia, and a rather good Remy Martin Champagne Cognac
See, the whole reason I will never be a successful politician? My reaction to those I perceive as My Betters, for want of a better term. I am a peculiar mixture, when it comes to class, of really quite posh on my Dad's side, and screamingly working class on my mum's side. Technically, this should average out at middle, and I should be normal, but things don't work like that, do they? So I know where my cutlery should be and how to pass the port, and am passable at passing myself off as landed gentry should the need arise ...
Fairy-tale monsters abound: under the bed in The Girl in the Fireplace; devilish on The Impossible Planet; Love and Monsters' all-consuming fan; Tooth and Claw's scary werewolf (and Queen Victoria); inspiring many wonderful toys. Children's magazine show Totally Doctor Who launches, then spin-off drama Torchwood makes it four Who-related series, peaking with They Keep Killing Suzie. The Invasion's lost episodes are reanimated for DVD; Bernice has a Summer of Love; gods battle on The Ship of a Billion Years... And who will win? Daleks or Cybermen? Army of Ghosts / Doomsday "I'm - the Doctor..." "Oh, I should say! Hooray!" ...
