Liberal Democrat parliamentarians in both Houses have been performing well in the rumpus over the latest allegations of political sleaze. Willie Goodhart, in the Lords, gave a ringing call for tougher sanctions against those who bring Parliament into disrepute, as the four Labour peers accused of making themselves available for hire for asking questions and what [...]
The most extraordinary aspect about the latest parliamentary sleaze scandal engulfing the Lords is not that Lord Taylor of Blackburn was prepared to accept £100,000 to put down amendments but that there are companies and organisations out there that are prepared to pay that much. If you want to put down a Lords amendment against Government legislation, it would be much better to speak to an Opposition Lord - they'll probably do it for free! Some are calling for the four Lords that were the victims of the Sunday Times sting to be prosecuted for breaking the law, but that ...
Unfortunately the question I asked at WLDC was not answered. The Conservative Leader of the Council, with whom the real final decision rests, basically reiterated the press release from nearly two weeks ago. contains the webcast of the meeting. You'll notice a distinct lack of any real answer or action.
A chap called Briggs Armstrong writes here what many libertarians and true free marketers really think - that many of those at the top of government, who claim to be strong proponents of free markets and capitalism, are actually a big part of the problem. Not only do they give everyone else the impression that theirs is the true flavour of capitalism but when given the opportunity all they stand for is corporate welfare, creating privilege for their friends and in the process destroying what good real free markets can do. Well worth a read for those of you who ...
I've been away from my blog for a few weeks, but not idle. I haven't had a chance to report on the fantastic Operation Black Vote Inauguration event I attended on the 29th Floor at Millbank, with a wonderful panoramic view across London. I was invited along with my colleagues from the Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats. People from all walks of life and representatives from the main political parties gathered to celebrate and share the historic election of the first Black man to become the 44th President. For many, myself included it was an incredibly emotional event to witness. Our ...
Islington's Lib Dem Council leader James Kempton is launching a London local government scheme to create 2,000 apprenticeships over the next three years. I think this is a great idea - tackling the problems of unemployment and combatting the risk of social exclusion for a generation of young people. Local recruitment should help strengthen communities [...]
The Government today announced a £2.3 billion package to support the car industry. So that's more money down the drain and more debt that taxpayers will have to pay back at some point in the future. The next time Gordon Brown accuses the Tories of being the 'do nothing' party, Cameron should have the balls to say "that's right, we are the do nothing party. Every time he does something the markets plummet and the situation gets worse."
Welcome to the 101st of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (18th-24th January 2009), together with a hand-picked quintet, mostly courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down. 1. My cat and Rene Kinzett on Peter Black AM's blog. Decisions are made by those who show up. 2. BNP Win in Bexley Thwarted by Recount on Jonathan Fryer's blog. Cheering a Tory victory (with due commiserations to Lib Dem candidate Grace Goodlad). 3. When ...
Sorry about being a bit light on content today - I'll try to make up for it tomorrow... Caleb at Every Day Is Like Wednesday writes about pornography. Alix at the People's Republic Of Mortimer shows how not to write a letter. The execution of an innocent man I wrote about yesterday has been halted, thankfully. The fact [...]
I have just spent the last few hours, with a break to watch Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, converting my blog. I had originally installed Wordpress MU (or Multi User) onto my domain, but I found that that program had more bugs in it than it was worth. I just became increasingly frustrated at the inefficiency of its interface; well, at least in my copy. Once I learnt of the Export / Import functionality of transferring posts, I decided that the best thing to do was to delete the MU program and install Wordpress 2.7 instead. Yes, the stand alone ...
The BBC (and Sky News) has been rightly assailed for refusing to carry the Gaza Appeal, to encourage humanitarian aid in what is a terrible tragedy for the people of Gaza. The public anger at the BBC's position was made terribly clear by the huge turnout in London last Saturday - see above. Please sign by Avaaz petition on the issue by clicking on the headline above.
At first glance of this story, you might be justified in thinking that the world has gone nuts. Isn't it the height of the false political correctness that most people can't stand to rename librarians as Audience Development Officers? That, it seems, is the least of UNISON's worries. As the City of Edinburgh Council revamps its library service, they are concerned that the introduction of self service scanning stations in libraries will lead to the loss of 40 jobs over 3 years. These would mean that librarians would take on a more customer focused role of doing things like leading ...
John Stuart Mill in On Liberty went to some length about Self Regarding Actions (SRA) and Other Regarding Actions (ORA). Basically the former is self-regarding and subject only to personal persuasion and inducement. Such an action becomes other-regarding and open to public sanction if, and only if, it either harms an interest, violates a right, or neglects a duty owed to another person or persons. One of the things laid out in that definition of liberty that I wrote about the other day was the right to believe or express oneself in a manner of one's own choosing. Which brings ...
The Council looks set to introduce new residents-only parking schemes in the Hyde Park area which is great news for everyone. It should mean people can park near their house, commuters will be able to catch a bus that won't have to slalom its way through parked cars and it will hopefully discourage students from bringing cars to university.
At last week's council meeting my colleague Cllr Alex Feakes asked for an update on use of the Smart Meters that are now available to borrow from Lewisham Libraries. Smart Meters are nifty devices that allow you to see how much electricity you're using, so you can see the difference using various appliances make to your energy usage. Anyway, Alex's question turned up the suprising answer that the Smart Meter at Manor House Library has only been loaned twice since it became available in October 08. We've got some way to go to catch up with Downham or Lewisham libraries, ...
Whilst over at Tom Harris' blog the other day I spotted an endorsement by Gordon Brown which said "Who?", but I forgot to get a screen print but I am sure most readers of Tom's blog would have seen it. Now the endorsement by the Prime Minister is very strange because Tom Harris was part of his cabinet as railway minister in the past. Is it just me or does the Prime Minister have a very bad memory? The "Who?" probably lead to the sack of Tom from the cabinet because the Prime Minister didn't know who he was because ...
Nick Clegg has quite rightly called for peers who break rules and the law to be expelled. It cannot be right that there is one rule for the vast majority of us, and another for Lords. It struck me that as local councillors we simply couldn't get away with, well 'bending the rules', or breaching codes of conduct, because we are subject to legislation: the Local Government Code of Conduct 2007, that every elected councillor in the country signs up to on election. The Code of Conduct cover areas of individual behaviour such as members not abusing their position or ...
After much talk about Blogging platforms with Shane Greer and Mike Rouse I am posting my excuse for sticking with Blogger for the time being. If you look at the top ten bloggers from Iain Dale's blog awards 2008 the results of Blogging platforms are as followed: Blogger.com: 5 Blogs Self Hosted Wordpress: 2 Blogs TypePad: 2 Blogs Others: 1 Blog Now Blogger.com is the most popular from the top 10 UK politics blogs of 2008, Guido Fawkes will be moving onto self hosted Wordpress as a source recently tipped me off but still Blogger.com is without doubt still the ...
Tue 27th
19:04
"government only have themselves to blame for information tribunal iraq ruling" - ming campbell
{MC in HoC} Sir Menzies Campbell MP has commented on the news that the Information Tribunal today ordered the Government to release minutes of crucial Cabinet meetings from 2003 at which the invasion of Iraq was discussed. Sir Menzies said: "This is a major step forward in explaining the supine attitude of the Cabinet towards military action and is clearly in the public interest. "The Government only have themselves to blame by procrastinating over an enquiry into the political events before the Iraq war. They have left themselves wide open."
The BBC and Sky refused to show the DEC Gaza appeal, Nick Clegg today made the decision to show the video on www.NickClegg.com, his Facebook profile and the Liberal Democrats are also showing the video on the party site www.LibDems.org.uk. We are showing it here too - just click on the video above. Please help. Link to DEC website Appeal phoneline 0370 60 60 900
I was surprised that our national treasure, David Attenborough, who for decades has brought so much entertainment and a greater understanding of natural history and wildlife to millions around the world, has revealed that he has been the target of hate mail from so-called Christians, who have bombarded him with Christian - like messages such as 'burn in hell and good riddance!' His crime? - not giving any credit in his nature programmes to God and creationism. Its the bi-centenary of Charles Darwin's birth, and he is presenting a new programme based on Darwin's 'Origin of the Species' Sir David, ...
{Ming Campbell} Sir Menzies Campbell MP has signed an Early Day Motion (EDM 585) in the House of Commons which expresses astonishment at the decision by the BBC and SKY not to air the DEC Gaza Crisis Appeal. The motion reads: EDM 585 26.01.2009 DEC GAZA CRISIS APPEAL That this House is astonished by the refusal of the BBC and Sky to broadcast the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Gaza Crisis Appeal; considers that the explanations given for this decision by BBC spokespersons are both unconvincing and incoherent; and draws attention to the fact that people wishing to obtain information about ...
The former Deputy Prime Minister has taken the plunge and started a blog. A proper one and everything. He made a posting on Labour Home in July last year which although I disagreed with, was well written - he comes across a lot better in writing! This latest blog is part of Labour's campaign for a fourth term. A long shot looking at the polls but fair play to him for trying to engage with the new media in this way.
The BBC and Sky refused to show the DEC Gaza appeal, Nick Clegg today made the decision to show the video on www.NickClegg.com, his Facebook profile and the Liberal Democrats are also showing the video on the party site www.LibDems.org.uk.
Well, well - he's certainly started with a work rate that puts some Conservative Shadow Cabinet members to shame ... for it's another day, and another attack from Ken Clarke on the policies that David Cameron and George Osborne have been pushing. Following up his earlier comments about the IMF, this time Ken Clarke has criticised them over tax policy. As Benedict Brogan reports: What Ken Clarke has to say about promoting marriage through the tax system amounts to a violent rejection of everything Dave and George have been proposing. Better yet, he justifies it by claiming the Shadow Chancellor ...
Mark Pack has already noted that Progressive London is not all that it seems, or at least that not all of those involved are singing from the same hymnsheet, so to speak. I am not in the least surprised that Dawn Butler doesn't get it. Anyone willing to claim more than £21,000 as a second home allowance when they represent a constituency within 24 minutes of Westminster, who complains about
Bury Children & Young People's Information Service (ChYPIS), have put together a free February half term information pack, which contains lots of ideas and information about what local groups and organisations have got planned for the school holidays. The pack contains details of Childcare options and things to do & places to go during the holiday period. Parents and carers can also add their details to the ChYPIS Holiday Mailing List, so that they automatically receive a FREE Information pack for each school holiday. ChYPIS also provide information about Parent and Toddler Groups, Nurseries, Playgroups, Childminders, Before and After Schools ...
It was a chilly early morning start that saw Cllr Stewart and I out in The Pastures in Hardwick at 08:00 this morning pressing the Highways Department for something to be done about the treacherous junctions and lack of designated parking spaces. Hopefully we'll have something concrete to let you know about soon in the form of a safety survey . Tonight is my last Parish Council meeting of the month (Hardwick) and it's intriguing to see the very different approaches taken by all of the Councils in the way they run their meetings. Some are quite short - some ...
As the BBC won't I will
This morning on Today Prog they had an item about the car industry with an economist, Ross Walker, and Tony Woodley of Unite regarding the car industry. Is the Beeb having a laugh? An economist fromthat well-known from that extremely profitable `stand on my own two feet` company RBS Group telling the UK car industry it [...]
Members of the House of Lords who are convicted of a criminal offence, and face a prison sentence, should be expelled from Parliament says Nick Clegg, Leader of the Liberal Democrats.
I see that Iain Dale is touting a report by the Tories saying that government should use more open source software. Well I tried to suggest that to Barnet Council back in April 2007. See Here. Unfortunately I got short shrift. The main reason is that like many other local authorities Barnet has been trapped by the Microsoft juggernaut with very tempting deals. Of course that does mean that our data is tied up in proprietary and often undocumented formats. Anyway it's nice to see that the Tories are playing catch up yet again.
I enjoyed my afternoon at the Rugby in watching Bath battle to a 3all draw with Toulouse in the poring rain on a pitch that looked more like a swimming pool than a Rugby Pitch. It is a shame that the Charity commissioners who hold that fate of Rugby in Bath in their hands could not be there to witness the passion of the residents of our great city in cheering on our local team as...
Following the decision of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) to halt funding decisions for college rebuilding, Bath's MP Don Foster is one of the joint sponsors of a Parliamentary motion urging ministers to intervene as a matter of urgency. Commenting, Don said, "This decision means a significant delay to the City of Bath College's plans to remodel their facilities and create new...
When I first saw that headline on the BBC a few days ago, I thought I might have accidentally opened one of those pornographic spam emails you sometimes get when a "friend" has signed your email address onto something you definitely wouldn't sign up for! Our honourable peers and their private probings aside... I'm glad our party has taken the lead in asking for a police investigation. The House of Parliament authorities are useless, toothless, and any other "less" words you can think of. As an earlier post of mine suggests, we should be shaking the foundations of our Houses ...
Over at The Guardian's Comment Is Free blog, Lib Dem shadow home secretary Chris Huhne argues that the cash-for-influence scandal is evidence that the House of Lords requires major reform - and a police investigation. You can read it in full here, but here's an excerpt: There are no adequate safeguards within the House of Lords to bring the matter to justice, as there is no easy means of suspending or expelling peers. Unlike the Commons, which was cattle-prodded into reform by Tory sleaze in the 1990s, the Lords has never had a crisis. ... That is an important reason ...
I have heard back from Sky regarding my complaint about their stance on the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Gaza Appeal. Working as I do in the customer services industry I can spot that this is a standard response. However, it is more than the BBC have managed so far. Dear Stephen Thank you for your message. John Ryley, Head of Sky News made the following statement explaining our position on Monday 26 January 2009. "The conflict in Gaza forms part of one of the most challenging and contentious stories for any news organisation to cover. "Our commitment as journalists is ...
I have been working with Shape Housing and it predecessor organisation Bath Self Help Housing Association for a number of years now and I have always been impressed by their Care and dedication. Bath Foyer is one place that they run in Twerton and many ask questions about them and how they run so I asked them if they could provide some information on how their schemes run and the criteria used...
Following the decision of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) to halt funding decisions for college rebuilding, Bath's MP Don Foster is one of the joint sponsors of a Parliamentary motion urging ministers to intervene as a matter of urgency. Commenting, Don said, "This decision means a significant delay to the City of Bath College's plans to remodel their facilities and create new...
The Labour government is planning to introduce legislation that will mean all petitions to local Councils will have to correspond to set guidelines - if they don't then the Councils will not be able to accept them. The Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill has 8 pages and over 3,000 words dedicated to the form petitions must now take. Bath...
There is a perceptive comment piece in the Times today by Rachel Sylvester. This part in particular stood out for me: In truth, it is too soon to tell whether the Government's rescue package has worked. Indeed, success will itself be difficult to define. "If we are back in growth by the first quarter of next year then I think you can say it has worked," a Cabinet minister says - but even that relatively benign outcome could be classified as failure, as the Chancellor predicted in his Pre-Budget Report that growth would resume in the second half of 2009. ...
Finally, Lambeth council have given us the dates when the new street lighting will be installed and working in Bonnington Square, Hanover Gardens and Elias Place. They are expected to be as follows: Bonnington Square - Feb 16th Elias Place - March 31st Hanover Gardens - April 3rd But watch this space for more news!
Oh look, Progressive London's round-up of blog coverage for Saturday's conference doesn't include this. Hmm...
This morning, a fat, creamy envelope plopped onto my doormat. Oh noes, I bethought me, it's another thumbnail of Vince looking grave and determined, telling me how wonderful I am and asking me for more money. I have been upgraded in the Lib Dem stationery lexicon to creamy ploppy envelope, you see, on account of a [...]
It has often been remarked that there is a relationship between countries I visit and their Governments falling (some of it is the other way round in my opinion but...), and Iceland has joined the list with Argentina, Kosovo, Ukraine and a number of others.
President Obama orders predator drones to fire on Pakistan. Locals claim three children were killed. Source: The Times
Sitting idly in the waiting room at Blackett's surgery last week, I spotted on the wall a grainy photograph cut into a ceramic montage of scenes from the Bondgate area. One of them was of the old Majestic Cinema, which later became the Odeon and is now occupied by Riley's Snooker Club. The original front to the Majestic has to be one of the most beautiful buildings in town. The top
Just heard this horrendous Labour dinosaur (another awful clapped out new labour estuary accent - clapped out because HE'S so clapped out in his thinking) on `World at One`. Apparently he's paid £20,000 a year as a consultant to the `build the third runway campaign`. He was asked whether he would do that if he didn't [...]
The publication of allegations of wrongdoing against four Labour Peers by the Sunday Times has dealt another blow to the current arrangements in the House of Lords. Lord Taylor of Blackburn, in particular, has been particularly foolish, and the recording of parts of the conversation he had with the undercover journalists appears to be pretty damning. Much attention has been drawn to the current
[originally posted to my old livejournal on 2006-03-12]I just found my second real word that's not in the OED 2nd edition. Yay!The first one I found was some time ago - hardbody, which appears in print in "American Psycho". The second is prannet, which as well as being in Ian Dury's most excellent little ditty "Billericay Dickie" also appears in Alan Moore's "V for Vendetta".[update: 2009-01-27]Prannet is now listed in the online edition which is accessible with your library card number. Hurrah!
You'd think that an economist would know the difference between the author of The Wealth of Nations and the writer of Auld Lang's Syne. You expect it even more is said economist were a Scot. Even further if said said was the well briefed on Homecoming Year. Yet somehow the First Minister Alex Salmond got these two mixed up as to what former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was coming to Scotland to give a lecture on. For the record this is Burns Scotland's bard. This is Adam Smith one of the founders of Economics as we know it today. ...
6) Stella Cottrell, Teaching Study Skills and Supporting Learning (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2001, ISBN 9780333921241). A bit disappointing - just a rehash of some well-worn theory and some suggested exercises that are very similar to ones I and/or the OU already use. Useful if you've had no formal training in how to teach, but if you have, it's probably not worth buying.
Many years ago in my youth, I became the youngest female football referee in the UK. And whilst I never eached the heights of Graham Poll, or one of my early colleagues, Phil Sharp, I certainly followed the unwritten rule of the game - a good referee is one that you don't notice. Unfortunately in the [...]
On Friday Peter Millea and I are off for a site visit to look at traffic. It seems theres a problem at the junction of Horrocks Avenue, Woolton Road and Long Lane which means a bus lane is forcing drivers to make dangerous turns. This may be a problem with the markings but we need to have a proper look with an expert to make sure. I have certainly had some complaints about this junction and the fact that there has been more than one makes me feel there is a problem to be sorted. If you have views about ...
Last week Richard Oglethorpe and were on a site visit to a corner of Garston Park. There is a problem of anti social behaviour - including brick throwing - in a corner bounded by some buildings. We met council officers and reps from the police and City Safe to see what can be done. First stage will be to cut back some of the growth which is being used as a handy hiding place. We also need to get some loose bricks (aka missiles) shifted. Hopefully some of this will start to help the situation. If not we will have ...
From one of today's party press releases: Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg will call for peers who are convicted of a criminal offence and face a prison sentence to be expelled from Parliament. In a speech to Unlock Democracy entitled 'A Politics of Trust', Nick Clegg will say: "The current accusations of wrongdoing that have been made against a number of peers highlight everything that is wrong with our political system. A system that too often operates on the myth that tradition should somehow always be trusted. "The allegations of accepting payment in return for changing legislation are serious enough. ...
Will we ever learn the lessons of history? Speak up for the oppressed and the victims; Give a voice to the powerless; Stop ethnic cleansing; Do not stand by and watch genocide and ethnic cleansing Let us pray for God's ancient people, the Jews, the first to hear his word - for greater understanding between Christian and Jew for the removal of our blindness and bitterness of heart that God will grant us grace to be faithful to his covenant and to grow in the love of his name. Lord, remember not only the men and women of goodwill, but ...
{Gail Coleshill and Nicholas Coombes} First have altered some of their bus timetables to "improve punctuality and reliability". Unfortunately for us, this means they have cut the service; fewer buses = better chance of making them run on time. The number 4 service which previously went from Bathampton to Whiteway has been split. The 4 will now go along the Warminster Road from Bathampton to town and now the 12 will go up to Whiteway. However, while Whiteway retains its half hourly service, the number 4 slides to a 40 minute return journey. Obviously I am disappointed with this reduction ...
Cross-posted from The Wardman Wire: Politics doesn't just happen in the US Australian politics should be a fertile learning ground for those interested in British politics. Whilst it does not have the West Wing glamorous scale of US politics, it shares the US advantage of a common language - which makes access to political information much easier than for other countries. Moreover, unlike the USA, it has the mundane - but vital - importance of having a political system that in core elements is the same as Britain (two houses of Parliament, leader of the largest party in the lower ...
There's a string of companies/trades which are doing very well in the recession: Aldi Lidls Morrisons Poundland Poundstretchers The 99p shop eBay Car repairers Shoe repairers Sainsburys Basics McDonalds (Thank you Letters from a Tory for those last two) Any other offers? On a recent visit to Reading I noticed a new shop in Friar Street, one of the two main streets in the town. Cash Converters.
The 'dilemma' over the proposed Severn Barrage really is a shocker. The newspapers and websites talk about the debate over whether to build the barrage or to destroy thousands of acres of wildlife. What debate?! It beggars belief that this is an issue. If the proposed barrage is going to cause as much damage as has been predicted, it should surely - obviously - not go ahead, especially as there are numerous alternatives worth considering, including many based around the Severn itself. Plus it will cost a fortune - £15bn - and no doubt the budget will more than double ...
I have to say that this cynic is completely bowled over by Barack Obama so far. His latest move to sent George Mitchell to the Middle East to talk to Israelis and Palestinians is breathtaking, as was his decision to record an interview with the 'al Arabiya' TV station in which he said he was willing to listen to Arabs. Blimey! I remain deeply and depressingly cynical about the whole Israel/Palestine issue as I just can't see how the Israelis can compromise. They have fought their way into a corner over 6 decades, a corner they can only get out ...
Following a pilot last year, Being Human returned to our screens this week, on BBC 3. In case you missed it (and you probably did - unlike ITV1's Demons it was conspicuous by its absence from billboards and trailers), Being Human follows the lives of a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost all living together in a rented house in Bristol and trying to...be human - to live some sort of normal human life. Leading a normal life turns out to be harder than expected, whether you're a werewolf going on the rampage once a month, a vampire thirsting for ...
Tonight is Holocaust Memorial Day, which takes place on January 27th each year, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz in 1945. Bury marks the day with its own annual Holocaust Memorial service. This year's takes place at the Elizabethan Suite at the Town Hall. This is always an important event of course, but perhaps even more poignant this year given the ongoing problems in the Middle East. I will be there together with lots of Council colleagues and others. It is always nice to see the involvement of lots of Bury's young people in the commemoration, and I'm sure ...
Kirsty Williams will be holding regular weekly press conferences in the Assembly starting today at 11.30am. It is proposed that future press conferences will be on a Tuesday at this time so that she can get out more in her constituency and the rest of Wales. Yesterday she was helping out in a by-election in Wrexham and visiting Airbus in Broughton. The new slot used to belong to Plaid Cymru who,
I made careful note of the press reports of Estyn's Annual Report and its assertion that Councillors are bottling difficult decisions to close schools. Gwynedd is testimony to what can happen when elected members do grasp the nettle, but as ever timing is everything and perhaps the year of a local election is not the best time to propose the widescale closure of small schools. I have to say though that I do not recognise the picture that was painted. Yes, there are examples of Councillors backing off from controversial proposals in the face of sustained and organised resistance and ...
Welsh Liberal Democrat Shadow Education Minister, Jenny Randerson AM has called for a radical rethink of schooling for underprivileged children after the annual Estyn report showed children from the poorest backgrounds are still underachieving at school. Jenny Randerson said: "It is clear from this report that the bare bones of our education system are improving, with progress in many areas, but
The Guardian recently ran a leading article about the economy ("No ordinary recession") in which the fall of manufacturing output by 4.6% was described as a "statistic that can be easily translated into real life". I beg to differ. Manufacturing output is simply a measure of how many things, gadgets and widgets our factories have churned out. Like GDP it is essentially meaningless in terms of the reality of human existence. Walking the dog, growing your own salad (see my balcony below from last summer), having friendly neighbours, reading a good book, playing the piano, feeling loved, not suffering from ...
Stephanie Flanders is the BBC's Economics Editor. She has now returned from maternity leave and permanently replaced Evan Davies who has now permanantised his position on Today. Can I say: "Thank God!"? At last, the BBC has a cool, sensible voice in its finance team. I have just had it with Robert Peston. (Knowledgeable, yes. Authoritative, yes. A pain in the neck, yes.) As well as providing a
How the worm turns or rather everything changes but nothing changes.
In his interview with Al Arabiya television, Barack Obama renewed his pledge to make a speech in a major Muslim nation. I've been guessing recently as to which country that will be. The current stakes are: Indonesia 5/4 Favourite (he was partly brought up there, he speaks Indonesian, it is the world's most populous Muslim nation and Ben Smith says that he told supporters in 2007 that he would
An interesting piece in today's Guardian with the news that Lord Sutherland, who chaired an inquiry into last year's Sats test shambles in England, has pointed out that basic checking of the competency of a supplier can including Googling their name - but this wasn't done when the Sats testing contract was awarded: Giving evidence yesterday, Sutherland said: "I don't know companies that don't do that kind of probing, whether it's by telephone or Googling. "If you Google, first you get the press cuttings and then you say, ah no, that's so and so but here's a serious report that ...
Everytime I hear about the 4 Lords in cash for amendments, I find the mention of Lord Snape raises a smile. I bet he gets on like a house on fire with Lord Mandelson of Voldermort.
Last weekend was the RSPB big birdwatch weekend which, sadly we were unable to take part in due to being elsewhere rather than in our garden. I am delighted to note though that this year the thrush has returned and most of our resident birds seem to be doing well. While out and about last weekend we were driving back over north Dorset and in a field I saw what I thought was some kind of white-headed eagle. It was far too big a bird to be a buzzard (which have a very different head and shoulder shape). My first ...
I just want to report one simple, but rather astonishing fact. Since 1994 road casualties in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames have dropped by 60%. This is the best level of reduction in the whole of London. How has Kingston done that in the face of increased car usage? Much credit has to be given to James Parker, the Borough's Road Safety and Travel...
One of the things that I enjoy about discussions about technology is that there is always a bit of jargon you have never heard before. Today I went to a breakfast meeting where I was introduced to the concept of "naked broadband". In essence it means being able to buy a broadband-only service from your provider without having to pay a monthly line rental to BT. Apparently such things are common elsewhere in Europe but rare in the UK. Why might this be a good idea? The argument runs that broadband penetration in the UK is starting to run out ...
Conservative Home has a great blog post about a Councillor who is protesting the prayer before Council meetings by bringing an ipod into the meeting and listening to it. Personally I think we need to end the prayers at the start of meetings across the Country because now councils have a lot of multi cultural and religious representatives on them! I support the ipod protest because people from other religions would feel intimidated if prayers were said at the start of meetings and they weren't Christian, to read the blog post follow the link!
How do you spend $1.2 million on refitting two conference rooms, an office and a reception area? The public demands an itemised bill! So far, our theories include: They were very big conference roomsThey bought expensive furnitureThey bought expensive artThey went overboard with the interior designThe last image has weird historic parallels. Thank goodness we just sack people nowadays rather
Evidence that Huw Lewis' leadership campaign has moved up a gear comes from the website of Torfaen County Borough Council. They will be meeting at 5pm today when Councillors will be considering the following motion: From Councillor Richard Clark Motion That this Council supports the ongoing efforts of the Assembly Member for Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney, Huw Lewis in relation to the dualling of the Heads of the Valley Road and asks the Welsh Assembly Government to take action to honour previous commitments to dual the entire route. Rationale The northern part of this County Borough and by association the ...
New York Govenor David Paterson has named Representative Kirsten Gillibrand to replace Hillary Clinton, who has now resigned having been confirmed as Obama's Secretary of State.
Camden is currently the top rated local authority in the country, the only council ever to gain perfect scores from the Audit Commission for every part of its corporate assessment. But we're failing on two key climate change and sustainability indicators - reducing CO2 emissions across the borough and obesity among year six children (age 10-11). Reducing CO2 emissions across Camden is a highly challenging goal since the council is not responsible for most of those emissions. But the best council in the country should be challenging itself to keep striving to do better. At least that's what I believe. ...
From the Eastern Daily Press: His words helped influence revolutions on both sides of the Atlantic and were quoted in Barack Obama's presidential inauguration speech last week.But it was the handiwork of one of Norfolk's most famous sons that was celebrated at the weekend as an 18th century underwear day was staged in his honour.
Like many others including Stephen I'm posting the DEC Gaza appeal in the hope that you will get onto their website and make a donation to help the people who are so obviously suffering. How much do we spend on food every week - well, they say that £50 will feed an entire family for a month. Makes you think, doesn't it? LibDig This!
Yes, it's that time of year once again, when thousands of people around the country suddenly realise, "Oh dear (or something similar), I've forgotten to deal with my tax return. I'd better get it done.". Only this year, there's a difference. In years past, you could download the return form, fill it out quickly, and deliver it by hand. I remember when self assessment was new, my then office
The Labour Government has long had a love affair with big IT projects. Slick salesmen have time and again convinced Blair and Brown that some enormous multi-billion pound computer system is the answer to all their problems. They can't say they haven't been warned. Political opponents and IT experts have for years councelled against the approach. It was like someone had given them a checklist on how not to run successful IT projects and they'd got it the wrong way round. Successful IT projects aim to create something small and useful, then build on it. NHS Connecting for Health (as ...
This is me {This is me} This is me finding my arse {This is me finding my arse} This is me finding my arse with both hands {This is me finding my arse with both hands} Now if I, with my legendary lack of organisational skill, can do this, WHY THE BLUE BUGGERY FUCK CAN'T OTHER PEOPLE?
So the last weekend was as fun-packed as usual. Saturday saw me with colleague Roy Driver for literature delivery in Didsbury West by-election. So many flats both purpose-built and converted you had to double-check the target mail not for the door but for the right flats. Then on to a `contributory concert` - ie one where the [...]
