We grabbed a quick cup of tea with Amy Kitcher, the PPC there, and her husband Kevin, before hitting the streets of Merthyr. Ros went off to meet local shopkeepers with Amy and Cllr Bob Griffin, whilst I went off with Kevin, Dominic and others to deliver leaflets. Whilst Merthyr has a reputation for being a bit grim, and I acknowledge that some of the economic and social statistics are
BBC-2's "Question Time" will be coming from Merthyr Tydfil on 26th February. Our information is that Kirsty Williams is scheduled to appear.
Image086.jpg Originally uploaded by duncanborrowmanToday Grace and I took David McBride, a Scarlets fan, to the Twickenham Stoop for the Quins v Scarlets match. Great time had by all. On the way home we split from David at the top of the ramps down to the platforms at Waterloo East. As I walked down a large group of teenagers were walking up. One deliberately walked full on into me. As I span
I've just sent this off the following to the BBC complaints department. I am disgusted to learn that the BBC has chosen not to show the DEC appeal. If such charities as British Red Cross, Christian Aid, Help the Aged, Islamic Relief, Oxfam, and Save the Children cannot be trusted to make an impartial appeal I doubt that the BBC is truly as impartial as it wishes to appear. I use the BBC sources as one of the top party political bloggers and often link through to news on you site. I will be refusing to do RSS feeds and ...
First, the Israeli government did its best to make sure that we could not see inside Gaza by preventing journalists from entering. Now the BBC will not allow us to see the appeal by the Disasters Emergency Committee for immediate, urgent help for the people of Gaza. The BBC gives two reasons for this. They question whether there is access to Gaza for any aid that is raised. Why does
If you live in Britain, it is vitally important that you contact your MP, before Monday, and ensure that they are going to vote against the Coroners and Justice Bill. Put simply, this bill allows ministers of the crown to, at whim, do anything they like with any data that they hold on private citizens. [...]
Well it will be Sky News, ITV or Channel 4 for me from now on as well as watching snippets of Al Jazeera on You Tube because the BBC is refusing to show a TV appeal for the victims of the war in Gaza. I will also stop using BBC links from this blog after this post which will make things little harder but a price I'm willing to pay. I've also stopped following @bbcbreaking and @bbcscotland on Twitter. If Twitter can spread the word on #MPexpences let's see if we can send the BBC a direct message by unfollowing ...
I've been having a bit of a stroll today, enjoying the sunshine and the crisp winter air. Strangely enough, I've had some bits of paper to read and, best of all, share, with some complete strangers. My day started in Cardiff Central, with a breakfast meeting with some Cardiff students. Luckily, students are sensible souls, so we met at 10 a.m. I was chatting away when in walked a memory of my
From the MEN - given the regrading exercise that's been carried out, with some staff losing thousands, while their bosses got big pay rises, this must surely make staff at the council rather cross (obviously excluding those on £50,000+). "Revealed, town hall staff on £50,000 Brian Lashley 24/ 1/2009 MORE than 1,700 town hall officials in Greater [...]
Rwanda was accused of backing Nkunda. But now Rwanda has caught and arrested General Nkunda, who is wanted for atrocities and war crimes he's committed. It's really positive news and shows how Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo can work together to stop the rebels that are committing ethnic cleansing and violence. But this is symbolic of much greater co-operation. 4,000 Rwandan soldiers have entered DR Congo to work with the Congolese Army in fighting groups committing ethnic cleansing. Congo and Rwanda didn't look like they could work together, but they are and they're tackling extremism and ethnic cleansing. ...
The Catholic Church has no official opinion on death penalty, but abortion, IVF, and embryo research is evil. Does the lack of an opinion on death penalty not contradict their harsh tone on other life issues. Do they not value life outside the womb as much as inside? Apparently homosexuality is as dangerous as rainforest destruction, but the Catholic Church's opposition to condoms means population would spiral out of control dooming the rainforests, and allow AIDS and other diseases to spread killing millions. Now apparently it's okay to have holocaust deniers as Bishops in the Catholic Church, but of course ...
I've already noted that getting away from Westminster to visit Local Parties is something that I look forward to, and this weekend sees my first extended trip as Party President, this time to South Wales. I see this as a demonstration of my commitment to the federal nature of the Party, something that I hold dear. The Welsh and Scottish Parties have traditionally maintained a strong sense of autonomy, almost independence, from the centre, and it is vital that the Federal Party, dominated for the most part by English voices, recognises and respects the differences between England, Scotland and Wales, ...
This oldest MP thing is becoming an obsession. The other day Bert Hazell died aged 101, but Michael Crick reveals that one former MP made it to 102. And he was a Liberal. Theodore Cooke Taylor was born on 3 August 1850, was MP for Radcliffe cum Farnworth in Lancashire from 1900 to 1918, and died on 19 October 1952. So his exact age at death was 102 years and 67 days. According to Wikipedia, when he turned 100 Taylor was still the managing director and chairman of J.T. & T. Taylor's. The company's employees enjoyed a day trip to ...
Those lily livered craven Daily Mail obsessed thick heads at the BBC have refused to show the Disaster Emergency Committee's Gaza appeal for some very bizarre reasons. They say the aid might not get through - whose fault is that, Israel? They infer that the money we give might end up gong to Hamas. What? Don't they trust the DEC? These aren't a bunch of leftie students, you know, they are credible charities, ranging from TEARFund to Save the Children, to Help the Aged to Oxfam and the British Red Cross. BBC Director General Mark Thomson came up with the ...
Michael Crick has more on the police visit to Daniel Kawczynski office. He writes: The reaction to the story has been pretty unanimous - that Mr Kawczynski is a rather eccentric though amiable figure, and grossly over-reacted. (Some have used stronger and more abusive language).I now wonder, however, whether the media, the Speaker and The Conservative Party have been unfair to him, and whether there were indeed quite important principles at stake. Worse than that, did the police abuse their position?Crick reproduces in full statements by two youthful members of Kawczynski's staff who were present when the police arrived. Read ...
RouseMedia's blog has a blog post about the strengths and weaknesses of Labourlist.org and it is an interesting post that needs a read. I personally with my own experience and the read agree with a lot of what Mike Rouse has said despite me having no techie knowledge unlike him. I have only messed around with Blogger and just created this blog unlike Mike Rouse who is experienced in Website and Blog setting up using platform's like Drupal and Wordpress.org. It has been identified in the blog post by Mike Rouse that Derek Draper is using a unknown platform that ...
The Pope has brought shame on the Roman Catholic Church, it is reported, by letting back in to the Catholic church a Bishop who denies the existence of gas chambers and believes only 200,000 to 300,000 Jews actually perished at the hands of Nazi Germany. In other words, the Pope is giving his blessing to a holocaust denier. On the back of comments he made just a few weeks ago which most would describe as homophobic, you have to wonder what damage his words are doing to the Roman Catholic church as a whole. What a skewed list of priorities ...
Following the concerns about West End Ward tenant Mr John Melville's heating system breakdowns reported on the blog in the past few days, the housing department has confirmed to me that it is pulling together full data on heating system faults so that the department can complete an analysis of the issues and compile a report on any necessary actions. Such action is necessary to ensure that there are systems in place to ensure that this sort of continual heating breakdown problem does not happen to another tenant in the future. There is more on this issue in this morning's ...
You can find the page for the DEC Gaza appeal on its website. Meanwhile, says the Press Association: The BBC has come under mounting pressure to screen an emergency appeal for Gaza, after ITV, Channel 4 and Five all announced they will show it.Thousands of protesters joined a demonstration in London, while a string of politicians, including senior Government ministers, urged the BBC to reconsider its decision not to broadcast the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal.
Ken Clarke comes back to frontbench politics and there is a confirmed recession. Just a coincidence or something more? This week's papers quoted the curious comment from an un-named "gloating Conservative frontbencher" that Mr Clarke had "more experience of dealing with a recession than the whole Government frontbench put together." It seemed to me an odd thing to boast at the time. Was he really saying get a Tory government for a real recession? A chart in today's newspaper shows all the quarterly figures for growth since 1955. Twenty-six of the quarters with negative growth were under Conservative administrations, twelve ...
I have been away for a day and a half but as soon as I heard the news about the DEC advert not being shown by broadcasters in this country I straight away thought this was a bizarre decision. There is no reason why screening an advert asking for aid for Gaza need imply partiality of any kind. I also suspected that the other broadcasters and the BBC would pretty quickly have to backtrack on this. Having heard Any Questions today on this subject, the panel and the entire audience (except one person) seemed to agree with me. With this ...
I've been hearing a lot recently about how the party are using the web and e-campaigning to motivate the grassroots, so when I got an email today about how I could help in the local council by-election, I was interested to see what could be done. Clicking on a link about our exciting 'eCanvass' software, [...]
www.scotlibdems.org.uk
www.scotlibdems.org.uk
From Liberal Conspiracy, where I've been feeling as welcome as a fart in a lift. Heh. Anyway, ages ago I highlighted plans to give Jack Straw the ability to decide, on his own, to override Data Protection rules and basically force X to give data to Y and how that was a bad thing. These plans have come into more detail now. (Read the Lib Con link for more details) The new plan is that if something is in line with a 'policy objective' - one step up from "if we feel like it" - ministers can get and share ...
Not far at all, compared to the rest of Europe. New research by the Lib Dems has found that £10 will get you on average 26 miles in Britain, compared to 80 miles in Sweden and a whopping 512 miles in Serbia. Aha, the Department of Transport say: travelling on standard fares is more common [...]
The BBC reports on the latest developments in the ongoing row over the Corporation's decision not to screen an appeal by the Disasters Emergency Committee for Gaza because it does not want to compromise its commitment to impartiality: ITV, Channel 4 and Five are to show a charity appeal for Gaza amid a row over the BBC's decision not to run the film. Ministers urged the BBC to recognise "immense human suffering" and show the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal. ... Protesters gathered outside the BBC's Broadcasting House in central London on Saturday, and chants of "BBC, shame on you" were ...
Daniel Kawczynski handed over the letter because a bobby asked him to, lets see him hand over his car keys or his house keys to a copper without a warrant who just asks for them. Daniel Kawczynski MP made a big mistake handing the letter over and now like the Damian Green issue the Speaker is in the wrong as well. Damian Green was targeted and arrested, this MP was not arrested so he should not have handed over the information without a warrant and good reason, the speaker is a silly old tw** because on both occasions he has ...
Blogging has been light today because I have been out posting leaflets for Afzal Anwar PPC with Councillor's Nadeem Ahmed (Pendle Borough Council) and James Wood (Nelson Town Council). All in all its been a good day because we have posted the whole of Whitefield Ward. If you would like more info about Afzal Anwar's Campaign follow the link to the Pendle Liberal Democrats website.
ITV have something of a love affair with David Pleat, a former football manager who is best known for his conviction for kerb crawling more than him winning trophies. It seems that someone at ITV thinks that David Pleat is the ideal sidekick to a commentator. I disagree. Surely a co-commentator should be able to pronounce foreign players names ? Surely the ability to pronounce English players names correctly ought to be a prerequisite for any so called football expert ? Obviously not for ITV though. What is the point of ITV running a first class broadcast if their co ...
I'm really pleased that after years' of nagging by some of my council colleagues, Haringey has at last agreed to let a car club to operate in the Borough. Car clubs are a great alternative to car ownership, especially in an area like Stroud Green where there are pretty good public transport links. In the long term they might reduce our acute parking problems. Boroughs like Islington and Camden have had them for years. In fact. my colleague Ed Butcher is a user of Streetcar already, because he lives so close to the border with Islington. You can find out ...
I am a passionate supporter of the BBC and its editorial independence. I strongly resent any row in which shouty people try to force the BBC to change an editorial decision. The price we pay for the BBC's neutrality is that it sometimes makes decisions with which one disagrees - and nobody should seek to shout those decisions down, however unpalatable they may sometimes be. The BBC's decision not to show the DEC Appeal is the BBC's decision and the BBC's decision alone. It is ironic that the very people (including Government ministers!) who are now insisting that the BBC ...
The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) is made up of 13 aid agencies, which are leading UK registered humanitarian charities that fulfil certain criteria, such as the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief. The Committee decides when to launch a combined appeal in times of extreme need in the world. In short, the DEC is a bit like
We didn't do the Fire Circus Skills by virtue of not actually having been to the festival before and not having the first clue what we were doing... So we made lanterns instead. And it was lots of fun, and we're going back next week to make some more. We met some really cool people, and we're really looking forward to the actual festival :D YAY! Now I have to go to work...
I am obviously not the only person who has latched onto this quotation as one of the most potentially important phrases from Barack Obama's inauguration speech last Tuesday. At my most optimistic, it yelled out to me that here's a pragmatist willing to tell people where government doesn't work and help promote alternative mechanisms. A little like all the apple pie stuff in the Lib Dems' constitution about "championing the freedom, dignity and well-being of individuals", "aiming to disperse power" or "decisions taken at the lowest practicable level" that just about keep me on board hoping that one day we ...
Since Israel started its campaign and war crimes in Gaza, there have been numerous Israel apologists and BBC haters on various blogs choosing to use the BBC's news coverage as evidence that the BBC is biased against Israel and that the BBC is evil. Now, with the BBC refusing to broadcast an appeal for aid to be sent to Gaza, where are the BBC haters and Israel apologists now ? The big problem for the BBC haters is that they always hold up Sky as an example to compare the BBC against. However, Sky have also refused to broadcast the ...
In a very short term, Daniel Kawcynski has, for me, come to represent everything that is venal about the Conservative Party. I've already written about him a couple of times, about his fact-free attack on electoral reform and his equally evidence-lite claim that evil liberals were trying to stir up hatred against Poles. Now he has turned his particular line in smear at the police, already (justly) reeling from the Damien Green affair. There are several ways in which this is not at all like the Damian Green affair. For a start, it would appear that the police were investigating ...
From the last 24 hours.. Cicero's Songs wonders if bloggers should aim for real political change Jonathan Calder thinks the BBC have a death wish Femme de Resistance talks about her experience investigating slum housing working for a newspaper - with a twist. The Yorksher Gob is a Godless, Immoral heathen. Go her!
Liberal Democrat councils in London and across the country have been working on ways to help their residents and local businesses through the recession. Vince Cable is leading the debate nationally, and Liberal Democrats in local government are supplying answers to the real problems on the ground. In Islington, the Liberal Democrats inherited a basket case council from the loony-left. Labour-run Islington was the proverbial case of bad local government, with enormous levels of debt and the highest council tax in the capital. Labour Islington was a tabloid favourite with scandals, sky-high spending, and crazy policies. The Lib Dems have ...
{IMG_4496} Back in November I blogged about a forthcoming cross-party scrutiny review into private rented sector housing in Reading that I have been closely involved in, as Chair of the Housing, Health and Community Care Scrutiny Panel. This has now been launched with the first meeting on the subject taking place on 5 February. The Lib Dems in Reading have actively campaigned to get the issues connected with private rented housing on the agenda. Belatedly, some Labour activisits have admitted the Council could be doing more to tackle rogue landlords and other problems, after years of ignoring the issue. There are an ...
This week Channel 4 is showing four films by this great British director: Monday 13.40: Night Train to Munich (1940) Tuesday 13:20: Kipps (1941) Wednesday 13:10: The Way Ahead (1944) Thursday 13:40: A Kid for Two Farthings (1955)There is a good article on Carol Reed on Screen Online.
On the Daily Beast, Tucker Carlson writes on The Real Reasons Caroline (Kennedy) didn't make it. He gives some interesting insight in the decision-making process of New York State Governor, David Paterson: Listen to people who know Paterson well, and it's hard to believe they're talking about the governor of the country's third most populous state. They describe a man who is witty and charming,
Inspired by my recent posting, Iain Dale has been asking who the oldest surviving MPs for all the parties are. So far the winners are: Conservatives: James Allason (born 6 September 1912)Labour: William Wilson (born 28 June 1913)Liberal: George Mackie, as suggested in my original postingOther parties: Ernest Millington (Common Wealth; born 15 February 1916)I remember Allason being my MP when I was a small boy in Hertfordshire. He is the father of Rupert Allason, who also became a Tory MP but is better known as the writer Nigel West. Later. There is an older living Labour MP: Ted Short, ...
Called "Your Weekly Address", this is from the White House web site and You Tube. Posted just over an hour ago. We begin this year and this Administration in the midst of an unprecedented crisis that calls for unprecedented action. Just this week, we saw more people file for unemployment than at any time in the last twenty-six years, and experts agree that if nothing is done, the unemployment
I have just cast my vote for Vince Cable in the Channel 4 News Political Impact Awards Here are my reasons: He's a petrolhead who wanted to take an Aston Martin to his desert island He loves bees He was one of the few non-Scottish Lib Dem MPs (Simon Hughes, Paul Holmes and Greg Mulholland among them) who came up to help in the Livingston by-election, stayed for two days and worked so hard. He was polite and friendly to everybody and behaved like a normal person and not an important shadow cabinet member. He's a massive Strictly Come Dancing ...
So, having become sick to death of BT throttling my broadband connection after 5pm, I decided enough was enough, and did a bit of digging around to find which broadband providers, if any, don't operate a deliberately gimped service. Having found one, I decide to ring BT to ask for my MAC code. Today was my second attempt (the first time I was effortlessly redirected to the billing team without getting the code). The conversation went like this: Me: "Hi, I'd like to get my Migration Authorisation Code please." Twat: "Okay. Can I ask why you want to leave BT's ...
It must be 30 years since I was last in Strasbourg, though if I get elected to the European Parliament in June, I'll be coming here pretty often. The city has the 'best of both worlds', in terms of its glorious Germanic half-timbered architecture and its scrumptious French food; the delicatessens are to die [...]
That tireless Parliamentary terrier, Lib Dem MP Norman Baker, has been doing what he does best, once again: demanding answers to awkward questions. The man who forced Peter Mandelson to quit the cabinet last time around has now turned his attention to two new bete-noires: 1) Gordon Brown's refusal to answer questions, which The Guardian's Politics Blog notes - here's what Norman said to the House of Commons, courtesy of Hansard: The issue of openness is crucial for democracy. We touched on it in the previous debate about MPs' expenses. After all my years in politics, both nationally and in ...
One thing that may transpire is a narrative at least that it doesn't really matter what sort of economic policies a Government has as it all ends up the same after a recession. Is that part of what the `it's only global` meme's all about? It allows the electorate off the hook regarding the tough decisions [...]
I don't tend to read everything over at Conservative Home because most of it is a little too much Tory policy talk which I will probably fall asleep reading. We'll I was just going through the January Archive when I came across a Tory tips post for Councillors who want to take the "leap" into Parliament. The blog post itself in some ways is correct but most of it is a little based on Tory Councillors and everyone will tell you they are the omen's within Councillor's. Its worth a read is the blog post for any Councillor no matter ...
With all the experts predicting that the recession will get worse before it gets better, the Labour government is preparing to make the best of a bad job by calling a snap general election in April. Gordon Brown wants to take advantage of opinion poll ratings which can only follow the employment figures as they plummet through 2009/10. Pensioners, who vote in larger numbers than the rest of the population, will receive their uprate during the month. And, on April 2nd, the G20 summit will take place in London and be attended by Barack Obama. (Expect plenty of photos of ...
I burst out laughing at the very well worded first question of the Times, the Week News Quiz this morning: If bankers are worth their weight in gold - and assuming that each weighed 15 stone - how many could you buy with this weeks £200,000,000,000 bank bailout. a) 4,500 - the remaining staff of Northern Rock b) 25,000 - the global staff of Lehman Brothers before its collapse c) 100,000 - the UK staff of RBS Whoever composed such a question has a dry wit and is a worthy quiz compiler. BTW the answer is c
Nigel Farrell (who I seem to remember from Nationwide or some sort of regional TV but perhaps I am imagining it) deserves big plaudits for his Parish programmes. Apart from anything else, the man seems to create his own "luck" (if you can call it that), at being in the right place at the right time. First, he did "Seaside Parish" in Boscastle and was there when the floods came. Now he's doing the
According to today's Western Mail the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has taken action against Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University NHS Trust for breaching the Data Protection Act after a laptop containing details of about 5,000 patients was stolen. It is believed that the computer, which was not encrypted, was taken outside normal working hours. It contained the names and addresses of some
In his latest post on the proposed nuclear power plant for Anglesey, Tory Parliamentary Candidate Glyn Davies hits one particular nail firmly on the head. Despite the fact that Plaid Cymru claim to be an anti-nuclear party, the replacement for Wylfa has the full support of the island's AM, Ieuan Wyn Jones, who also happens to be Plaid leader and Deputy First Minister of the National Assembly for Wales. Ieuan makes the point that he is defending the economy of the constituency he represents. But as Glyn says: 'It would be OK if he was a backbencher. But he's not. ...
From Hold the Front Page: Journalists in Shropshire are threatening to ballot for industrial action claiming managers are refusing to answer their questions about job cuts.Midland News Association, publisher of the Shropshire Star and the Express and Star, is looking for 70 compulsory redundancies after a plan to cut 135 jobs by voluntary redundancy failed to get enough takers.The National Union of Journalists chapel in Shropshire wants to know how many of those job losses will fall in its editorial department but says managers have so far failed to respond.It says that if it doesn't get an answer by close ...
Having outraged Daily Mail releases over Jonathan Ross, the BBC now seems determined to do the same for Guardian readers. Soon there will be no one left with the motivation to speak up for it. The Independent reports: Hundreds of protesters are expected to gather outside Broadcasting House in London today after the BBC defended its decision not to broadcast a public appeal to raise funds for Gaza.The corporation said the decision was taken with other broadcasters not to show the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) crisis appeal because of impartiality concerns. There were also doubts about the delivery of aid ...
I got out my cheque book this morning to pay a couple of bills. Cheques are a bit of a rarity now, although it's still how I pay the milkman. And many of the small voluntary groups I support prefer payment by cheque. But for most payments, cheques are a thing of the past. Sainsburys [...]
A quiz question for you: back in September last year, Transport for London increased the price of a single bus ticket using an Oyster from 90p to £1. So what would you expect to see on posters on London buses during the last week? (Pssst: the headline to this post may give you a clue.) Yup, they are running a series of posters (spotted on more than one bus) saying Oyster single tickets have gone down in price: {Bus prices have gone up, but the posters say they've been cut} {TfL bus prices poster} Up? Down? What's the difference between ...
It's a good example of how to do highly visible christmas decorations and it's from Seven Dials. The Seven Dials project which is now several years old is for me a model on how to take a neglected area and, using it's history, transform it into the height of fashion, desirablity whilst retaining it's charm and character. The effect is then further built upon through innovative, intelligent and niche marketing drawn through in these card (?) christmas advertings that were suspended across the streets. Yes, I know the buildings are tall and close but there are opportunities elsewhere it is ...
I'm pinching myself but it's true. Praise for the Lib Dems and our stance on Gaza from Peter Oborne, no less, in last Saturday's Daily Mail. In a little piece headed Gaza's guardian, he writes: "LIBDEM leader Nick Clegg deserves undiluted praise for speaking out against the bloodthirsty invasion of Gaza and calling for sanctions [...]
Britain may only now have entered recession, but the trajectory remains relentlessly down. A huge part of our national wealth and prestige, the City of London, is massively weakened. This matters hugely because so much of our innovation, so much of our best talent was invested in the financial services sector. Now a great part of the attraction of London as a global city has gone. The impact of fewer and lesser international connections will reduce the capacity of all of the British economy to enrich our citizens. All of us are going to get a lot poorer. Yet the ...
Haringey can't get it right for getting it wrong. It took a monumental effort to get Parkland Walk in the frame for a facelift and residents were delighted when finally it happened - but apparently just a little while later the revamped and refreshed walk is covered with rubble and mud! It's presumably the muck and mess from phase 2 - but how ridiculous to lay a new path etc when there was still work to be done further inside the park. The JCBs have churned up the landscaped reserved and the workmen are dumping earth and stones on the ...
Just wondered.
Jonathan Ross produced an excellent show last night. It must have taken some working out. Who to get on. How far to go. How much swearing to allow...that sort of thing. In the end, I thought he got the balance right and his "pulling power" with guests suggests that his career is very much alive and kicking. Tom Cruise! (There must be something wrong with Cruise, by the way. No one can be that
Boris was on a 400 foot dredger yesterday, sailing up and down the Thames Estuary to find somewhere to stick an airport. What a pillock! He just doesn't get it does he? There is a simple one-word reason why an airport in the Thames Estuary is a complete non-starter: Birds. More specifically, over 200,000 wild fowl and wading birds which overwinter in the estuary, plus thousands which visit
Figures released by the Assembly government reveal that nearly 8,500 people waited more than four hours in Welsh A&E departments during December 2008. Nearly 1,700 of those patients had to wait more than eight hours. Government set targets were not achieved at the all-Wales level and no NHS Trust met either the four hour or the eight hour target. Welsh Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Minister,
Lynne Featherstone writes about a Haringey woman who was trapped in a two-room, larvae-invested flat for nine years. After going in "to do battle" with the council, the lady and her family are rehoused. Unimaginably appalling council housing is a common problem in east and parts of north London (Haringey is in north London). While on a placement at an east London newspaper, we were called by a
Here it is:
With the two major Cities of South Wales poised to back their respective football teams in the fourth round of the FA Cup in the next few days I noted that the relative sporting conflicts have an interesting political angle for Liberal Democrats. Swansea are poised to take on FA Cup holders Portsmouth at 3pm today. Both Cities have local Councils that are led by Liberal Democrats, the latter having succumbed to majority control only in the last week after three defections, including one Conservative. Meanwhile, Arsenal who are based in the Liberal Democrat controlled London Borough of Islington will ...
During party leader Nick Clegg's visit to Torbay on Thursday a journalist asked what's the point of the Liberal Democrats?The answer was easy, we keep the bastards honest. Had it not been for the Lib...
What's this?! A student... awake at 1:35am?! Impossible! Alright, what's more weird is that this student has gone home and done a blog post, before going to bed. But the Liberal Democrat bug bites us all in different places. And mine bit me on the laptop. So, today, our student group joined in with the local party again, to meet the fabulous, radiant Ros Scott! Not only was the food amazing, but to hear her talking about our party was extremely inspiring. She understands local parties, she understands how important it is to listen to members. She understands the realities ...
So, yeah, this going to bed before midnight thing... Your morality is 0% in line with that of the bible. Damn you heathen! Your book learnin' has done warped your mind. You shall not be invited next time I sacrifice a goat. Do You Have Biblical Morals? Take More Quizzes ... I'm SUCH a naughty girl! But, yes, really AM going to bed now.
As sure as the sun rises in the east, a new leader of a main British political party pledges a new type of politics. An end to the Punch-and-Judy show we see across the dispatch box. A more positive type of politics. And, as sure as the sun sets in the east, things go back to normal. The only question is whether it takes hours or days to revert to type. The easy thing would be to blame politicians. Why do they have to be so combative? Why can't they get on and work together? Wouldn't more women politicians improve ...
I overheard two financial advisers chatting in the changing rooms at the gym yesterday and one of them gave the most succinct explanation of the recession that I have heard. "The difference between this recession and the one in 1990 was in 1990 I had lots of mortgages to sell, but no clients. This time I have loads of people wanting mortgages, but none to offer them"
Gosh. The Sarah Jane Smith Adventures' opening Invasion of the Bane and Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane... Big Finish's Circular Time, 100 and Immortal Beloved... The Pirate Loop's enthralling read... And marvellously interweaved TV Doctor Who: vampirism; transformations; bad, bad angels; David Tennant suffering brilliantly; Gridlock's Dance of the Macra*; Utopia / The Sound of Drums / Last of the Time Lords (the Master's awakening making the year's most gripping quarter-hour); and Paul Cornell's beautiful, small-scale, essential story... Human Nature / The Family of Blood "But we need the Doctor." "And what am I, then? Nothing? I'm just a story." ...
