Result just through from Newcastle Fenham byelection. A Lib Dem gain from Labour by a slender 24 votes, or there abouts. But the BNP were only about 200 behind. Tight result but a gain nonetheless. Well done to Newcastle who now have their 50th councillor. Newcastle before the elections were the biggest Lib Dem group in the country and are now the even biggest group.Labour's glittering new and
Well it's been over a year now and the election is starting to peek over the horizon So Nick should be getting his act together, but whenever he is front of the media .....I'm just not convinced. It's not that he is rubbish far from it....... it's just that I believe, he isn't good enough to be take on this demanding role. He looks uncomfortable in front of the camera, he sounds hesitant on the radio and lacks the cutting edge at question time. Vince Cable It seems to me sitting from afar, that his close advisers and speech writers ...
My Liberator colleague Simon Titley has an article on Lib Dem Voice anathematising jargon, buzzwords and cliches of all kinds. One of those he identifies is: • Young people's jargon - Like, whatever.There is a certain irritating sort of journalist - perhaps unfairly, Zoe Williams of the Guardian is the first name that springs to mind - who affects an adolescent offhandedness in his of her writing. They do not just use "like" and "whatever": words like "stuff" and "squillions" feature prominently too. Having been to a conference on social media for work earlier this week, I am now in ...
There haven't been many funny moments in the last 4 weeks but thanks to my daughter on the other side of the world this produced one. Only read it if you have tissues at hand (or no sense of humour). On a more serious note the possible improvements to the footpath between Yarm rd and West View Terrace moved slightly nearer today.
Jo Swinson, Lib Dem shadow foreign affairs minister - and one of LDV readers' top choices for promotion to the party's shadow cabinet - is the Lib Dem representative on tonight's Question Time (BBC1 and online, 10.35 pm GMT). Jo will appear alongside former Justice Secretary (and former flatmate of Tony Blair) Lord Falconer, Conservative shadow secretary for children, schools and families (and neocon apologist-in-chief for The Times) Michael Gove, Deputy First Minister of Scotland (but for how much longer?) Nicola Sturgeon, and writer and broadcaster (and general media tart) Hardeep Singh Kohli. And for those who are staying up ...
A few days ago two men guilty of raping a woman with learning disabilities then throwing caustic soda at her were given ludicrously low sentences for their sickening crimes. The attorney general has now called for a review of their sentences. Today those responsible for protecting the killer of Rhys Jones, those responsible for giving him the gun and those who provided a false alibi were given sentences ranging from probation up to seven years. The person given seven years will be out of prison in just three years. They were reported to have cheered the sentences they were given, ...
Finished an enjoyable time doing my Bette Midler impression (`From a distance`) knocking up for Lianne Williams - Lib Dem candidate in Didsbury West. Good luck Lianne!
No he's not a great looker but he's my type of guy. I heard him today on R4 - what that guy doesn't know about the apostrophe doesn't bear thinking about. He said it all with such a graceful lilting Brummie accent yet you could tell there was a lot of earnt fire in the belly. If [...]
Warning: great, big, long and a bit technical in parts. Non linguist-nerds may wish to get themselves some cocoa. Simon Titley has an interesting post up at Lib Dem Voice about jargon, Liberal Democrats, for the use of. He'd like Focus writers in particular and the party in general to "fight and defeat jargon, buzzwords and [...]
A consultation document launched by Ed Balls, Alan Johnson and the Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, is expected to advise parents not to allow children to drink any alcohol before they are 15. Donaldson was promoting this line on the Today Programme this morning but, as Costigan Quist points out: He didn't seem to be able to point to any evidence that children being given the odd drink by parents in a controlled environment actually did any harm. What would such evidence look like?It might show that children allowed to try alcohol at a young age by parents, in ...
I have had a really miserable day. I feel like hell. If you've been following my Twitter posts, you'll be sick fed up hearing about my ears. My poor long suffering husband got his head in his hands to play with when he came in from work just for asking a simple question. My mood over the last week has ranged from mildly pissed off to tears of self pity to, frankly, homicidal. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel - and proof that laughter really is the best medicine. Well it seems to work better than ...
Yesterday's vote on the third runway was supported not only by LibDem and Conservative MPs, but also 28 Labour MPs, according to Greenpeace, the biggest rebellion on an opposition motion since Labour came to power. Sadly, the Labour MP for Watford, Claire Ward, was not amongst the brave 28. Not that I expected her to be, [...]
This morning I addressed the 5th International Conference on the 'EU, Turkey and the Kurds', organised by the EU Turkey Civic Commission at the European Parliament, stresing the importance of a healthy civil society within any putative democracy. That's why the Westminster Foundation for Democracy — for which I sometimes go on foreign missions [...]
Monday 19th January saw my first Federal Executive as Party President and Chair. As it was the first meeting of the cycle, there was an inevitable emphasis on procedural issues, especially in the light of the new governance arrangements agreed last September following the recommendations of the Party Reform Commission. We've agreed to look at how the Chief Officers Group is monitoring progress made on recommendations that were agreed following the work of the Commission and in particular the FE's role in oversight of Party strategy. We agreed to change the standing orders to reflect these new governance arrangements and ...
There is a great article by Neil Collins in tonight's Evening Standard about the lunacy of the £2.3 billion bail out of the car industry. It's so good, I've published it in full below: A couple of years back, at the height of the great boom, the world's carmakers were producing five cars for every four buyers. Flying in the face of this simple arithmetic, which revealed so much overcapacity that demand would never catch up, Tata of India bought Land Rover and Jaguar. The company betrayed the self-deceit common to all carmakers that the fifth car left unsold on ...
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There is a by-election in Fenham ward in Newcastle today. Labour are defending the seat though it is a ward with a colourful political history. Until the 80s it was a strong Tory ward but they lost to Labour and have since collapsed, as they have across the whole of Newcastle and Gateshead. Labour held the ward comfortably for 20 years and it returned 3 Labour councillors in 2004 despite their
The new President Bartlet's Obama's daily habits are outlined by the New York Times: The capital flew into a bit of a tizzy when, on his first full day in the White House, President Obama was photographed in the Oval Office without his suit jacket. There was, however, a logical explanation: Mr. Obama, who hates the cold, had cranked up the thermostat. "He's from Hawaii, O.K.?" said Mr. Obama's
Thu 29th
19:42
Another heartbreaking story about false allegations on CRB disclosures - Surely there's a big injust...
I have spoken this evening to a desparate man from London, whose life is being blighted by CRB disclosures revealing false allegations made against him. My (seemingly) one man campaign to alert people to this injustice has so far alerted a number of people harmed by it, but nobody willing to change anything! Maybe this will change that, as his story shows how the current law just can't be right. This man (from London) suffered a bitter break-up with a partner, who then reported him to the police with serious allegations. These, he maintains, were false, and although the police ...
There was a certain tension among the Tories yesterday at Mayor's Question Time in London: In a change to the usual format, the London Assembly were considering the Mayor's Draft Budget. Naturally, value for money was being debated, and who better to champion it than Conservative Assembly Member Brian Coleman, he of the expensive taxi habit. He was keen to question the Mayor on value for money - Boris seemed surprised that this was coming from Coleman's direction, so inserted a little put-down later on - when it came to the discussion on how to encourage an increase in cycling, ...
Commenting on reports that the police are 'reviewing material' to decide whether to launch an investigation over 'cash for amendments' allegations, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said: "The police review of the evidence is understandable given the lack of clarity in our existing anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws, which has been crying out for reform for many years and is...
Commenting on today's Standards and Privileges Committee report into the Derek Conway affair, Liberal Democrat Shadow Leader of the House, David Heath said: "Both the Parliamentary Commissioner and the Standard and Privileges Committee have gone out of their way to be fair and understanding to Mr Conway." "He should now accept these findings and immediately pay back...
Responding to today's publication of Lord Carter's report into the future of the digital economy, Digital Britain, Liberal Democrat Shadow Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, Don Foster said: "The Government made a lot of the right noises today, while failing to take any tough decisions." "Instead of a serious strategy we've been offered another round of reviews,...
Oh dear. Oh dearie dearie me. Last night's Newsnight contained quite a spectacle. Michael Crick was on the case of the Scottish non-budget with his usual terrier-like determination, charging round the Scottish parliament with his microphone to prick the pomposity of Messrs Salmond and Swinney. What saddened me greatly (and I had to get a box of Kleenex out) was to see poor old Alex Salmond
I have written on here a few times now about the Tory Executive which runs Bury Council getting a bit carried away with their power, and severely limiting the legitimate rights of the public and the Council to question them. Whilst I accept happily that they run the Council, their activities since taking control have done them little credit, nor have they helped the institution of the Council. First the Tories restricted the rights of the public to ask questions at Council meetings. Where before there was a requirement of a couple of days advanced notice, and supplementary questions were ...
It looks to me that the Lib Dems are being left behind by the Tories and Labour when it comes to new technology. As far as I can see, nobody at Cowley Street or the Shadow Cabinet. even a junior minister has any knowledge, remit or portfolio for ... Read and post comments | Send to a friend
Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer, tried to explain his decision to advise that alcohol for for under 15s should be prohibited by parents, by using some of the most bizarre reasoning I have heard in recent years. Firstly he tried to debunk the arguments that many people give that a little bit of alcohol for teenagers can make teens more responsible with alcohol later on by arguing that some people, some children, some adults, cannot differentiate between right and wrong so this blurs things, then he went on to state that some people do not know what a ...
There you are. I thought it was only right and proper to record how much money Derek Conway has been asked to repay the public after overpaying his sons Freddie (£13,161) and Henry (£3,757).
This isn't a very respectful way to treat your Commander-in-Chief. How on earth can this military judge get away with defying the will of the democratically elected administration? LibDig This!
The Council has never quite got to grips with snappily-titled meetings. Tonight was the latest gathering of perhaps the worst offender - the (deep breath) Alternative Service Delivery Working Group Sub-Group of the Resource and Performance Overview and Scrutiny Commission. Not only does the title have more words in it than a haiku, it is now also inaccurate, since the agenda has moved on from when the group was new. It's less to do with potential alternative ways of delivering services (for instance, using the private sector), and more to do with improving the way that services are delivered. Semantics ...
The people of Prestwich have to put up with the worst air quality in the North West. Or so we've always been told. I actually queried this fact the other day when the Council's Environmental Health Officer in charge of air quality came to the Prestwich Developing Communities Working Group, which I chair. The Group is charged with realising the "Prestwich Plan," the local plan for the area which has 60-odd targets on it, one of which is to do something about the air which, as I said, we're told is the worst in the region. It's no surprise that ...
The local news this evening featured a Green PPC spouting on about how unfair it is that councillors do not have the right to overrule a planning inspector. Let's be clear about this, the planning inspector applies the law of the land and like it or not, this should be the basis on which planning applications are made. Does this dim Green want a return to the bad old days when applications could be turned down on a whim with no way of redress ? Sadly it was just blatant populism from the Green and showed exactly why he is ...
Well, somefink wot I wrote at least will be on BBC Radio 4's Recorded for Training Purposes sketch show tonight at 11pm. So, if your parents will let you stay up that late, you can listen to it then or you can catch it at some point over the next seven days on the BBC [...]
By random chance looking through some old posts here, I found a link to this from July 2003: Finally, one of you asked if there would be a White House blog. Why not? (Howard Dean, guest-posting on Lawrence Lessig's blog) It only took five and a half years to happen...
The Tibetan Government in exile is appealing to the international community for intervention, to stop China's brutal crack down in Tibet. 81 people have been arrested and 6,000 people have been questioned in the last 11 days. But of course the international community won't speak out, they probably won't say a word. The economic crisis is hitting hard and China has huge reserves, so it looks like we will ignore freedom for the purposes of money. While this economic crisis hits us, it looks like the authoritarian regimes of our World will take the opportunity to commit deadly deeds while ...
{A flight information board} Dizzy Thinks highlights the Home Office's love of flying, when we're all supposed to be cutting carbon emissions: "Last year, the Home Office, achieved the staggering figure of 3,115,863 air miles on domestic flights alone. Meanwhile the Home Office did 1,626,114 miles on short-haul and 3,980,766 on long-haul. Apparently this is OK though because the Home Office "ensures the Department offsets carbon dioxide emissions from its official air travel." "Frankly this is beside the point. We, the proles, are constantly being told that climate change is going to kill the entire world. That we should avoid ...
Pendle's Labour MP Gordon Prentice despite all the pleading by the Prime Minister voted against the Labour decision of the third runway despite the government still passing it through the Commons. I myself was in support of the Green Peace campaign because I think Heathrow should not get the third runway, why not spend the money on an Airport in the North? And secondly we will not meet our environmental targets with the third runway so its best not having one and making do with what we have. The UK is heading into bankruptcy so whats the point of a ...
The BBC has been accused of inserting one part of Barack Obama's Inauguration Speech into an earlier paragraph in order to strengthen its credentials on global warming. The broadcast by BBC Newsnight's science editor Susan Watts, has caused outrage on her blog and brought back memories of the 'Crowngate' row in 2007, where a documentary about [...]
Iain Dale has a post that shows a Labour MP who made a mistake when voting about the third runway at Heathrow and voting in support of the government by accident. Like Iain Dale I agree that the MP will be reminded of his mistake vote and it will probably cost him his seat to the Tories. Personally I think that the Prime Minister tried to hard with the crying out in his Commons office to all Labour MP's. According to a report that is, he lined Labour MP's up outside his Commons office and one by one plead to ...
I've decided in all this pessimism over the state of the economy it's worth remembering there are some optimistic people who work hard, give up time, make people's lives better and are generally a good egg and the unsung heroes (and horses) of the hour...so I'm going to start a Star of the Week thread and this week it goes to the Chalkdown RDA, who I had the great pleasure of seeing in action today with my kid and his class. Brilliant! It's the RDA's 40th anniversary this year - I wish them well and you can learn all about ...
Do you like jargon? Are you a regular user? If so, prepare to have a brick thrown through the window of your soul. You don't have to be a Grumpy Old Man to find jargon, buzzwords and clichés irritating. Back in 1996, I attempted to do something about this problem in the public relations agency in which I then worked. I took the unorthodox view that there was no excuse for professional communicators to use such language. Jargon got in the way of effective communication because it made us sound pompous, silly or unintelligible. Disciplining ourselves to use plain English ...
For Iran and the USA the difficult times of talking get under way. The leak of the US President's (alleged) draft letter to the Iranian President matches to the public demand from Iran for apologies for past US actions against Iraq. It might be easier for Obama if the key past events were all the relics of Republican administrations. However Iran is likely to be aware of this action under the Presidency of Democratic President Jimmy Carter, as reported by Robert Fisk, interviewing a notable German arms dealer in 1987: So it was true, I asked him, that he had ...
Liberal Democrats on Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council have condemned as hypocritical attempts by the Labour Council to boost attendance at its Area Committees. The Labour Council recently announced a poster campaign to encourage people to attend the five Area Committees. But Liberal Democrats say that Labour's interference in the committees is what has put people off in the first place, especially their cynical creation of the Greater Eston Area Committee. This just isn't working. When they took power in 2007 Labour immediately merged the Ormesby, Normanby and Eston Area Committee with the Grangetown, Teesville and South Bank Area Committee ...
Peter Luff is the Conservative MP for Mid Worcestershire and Chairman of the Business and Enterprise Committee. Politicians in the UK are often criticised for not using modern technology and communication methods effectively to engage with the public. This is a fair criticism - we should be doing so much better. Sure, there are MPs who flirt with blogs and ministers who 'twitter', but there's still an overwhelming sense that parliamentarians are using new media to be seen to be using new media, and that we actually still don't know our dongles from our floppies. In stark contrast to the ...
A disappointing announcement by the Government this week on the shortlist for the next stage of the Severn Tidal Feasibility study, which I think goes to highlight the Government's lack of vision and open mindedness on this issue. More innovative proposals and visionary proposals that could offer a more cost effective and environmentally friendly option for the Severn Estuary have sadly been
The BBC brings us news that Russia has halted its missile deployments in Kaliningrad, in response to what it sees as a change in attitudes in Washington. The arrival of Barrack Obama in the White House, and the perception that he is less keen than his predecessor to continue to roll out the missile shield in the Czech Republic seems to have persuaded Russia to put its deployments on hold. As I've argued a few times on here, Russia has been more aggressive in its foreign policy of late, although has been justifiably, and unnecessarily provoked. It is nice to ...
I have to say I was quite disturbed to read this article, via Yahoo, of a family cloning their dead dog. I believe that it is pushing the boundaries of ethics a little too far. I'm not against the pursuit of science, and there are areas of the science of cloning that can potentially lead to cures for diseases. However, I think there is a line you don't cross, and when you're in the situation, as in this case, where you are essentially trying to re-create something that is dead, to essentially replace it, then that is treading on some ...
Radio Free Europe reported towards the end of last week of a degree of friction that appeared to be occurring between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, and his predecessor, and current Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin. The full article can be read here. Medvedev has criticised the Russian government for the second time in as many weeks. It strikes me that this may be a deliberate tactic on his part. From the moment he was named as the candidate to replace Putin as Russia's President he has been viewed, at least by some, as Putin's puppet. It was assumed that Putin had ...
The notoriously unreliable, and quite frankly contemptuous rag, The Sun brought us the story yesterday that Arsene Wenger believes that the title race is so wide open that Everton could still win the league. This is sheer lunacy on his part. I am a very big Evertonian, and would love the club to win something, a feat that it has struggled to achieve during my lifetime, with the odd notable exception. But no matter how well we are playing currently, Everton are not going to win the Premier League. Wenger's comments strike me as those of a man who knows ...
Following yesterday's vote rejected the Budget Bill, Tavish Scott this morning has offered that the Lib Dems will sit down and talk with the SNP about a budget through quickly that will meet the challenges facing Scotland. His comments were welcomed by Finance Secretary John Swinney. Tavish said in a radio interview: "We need to move forward and build a better budget for Scotland. I recognise the situation we are now in. Obviously we'd like to make [the 2p] argument, but we want to be constructive about this - we are where we are now. The government have got to ...
So according to Sir Liam Donaldson, England's chief medical officer, children aged under 15 should never be allowed to drink alcohol, even in small quantities. Sir Liam said that childhood should be an 'alcohol-free time' and that children who drink were at risk of "serious harm". At present It is legal for parents to give a child [...]
As seen in last Wednesday's Hansard (Parliament's official record): Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Prime Minister if he will make it his policy to conduct exit interviews with Ministers leaving Government; and if he will conduct an exit interview with Lord Jones of Birmingham to discuss the noble Lord's experiences as a Minister. [249500] The Prime [...]
Thu 29th
13:19
Exactly one year on: Derek Conway gets a slap on the wrists, but so much more should have been done
On 29 January 2008, one year ago today, I submitted a complaint to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards regarding the employment of his elder son, Henry Conway. It was clear from the report into the employment of his other son Freddie that there was a case to answer over Henry, that he had been paid for work he didn't actually do. Press reports quoted fellow students who said he could not
Should you find yourself at a loose end in Northampton this evening - and, let's face it, there is little else to do there - why not hear Nick Clegg speak? He is on at the Guildhall, St Giles Square, starting at 6.45 p.m. Full details at Flock Together
The latest edition of Standpoint casts David Cameron's top adviser Steve Hilton into its "Overrated" column: Between David Cameron's election as leader and his hoped-for entry into 10 Downing Street, Steve Hilton will have cost the Conservative party at least a million pounds. Despite vast debts, the Tories are reported to be paying their chief strategist an unprecedented £270,000-a- year salary.* Yet, apart from having helped to make Cameron leader, Hilton has no other notable political successes to his name. In the disastrous 1997 and 2005 general election campaigns, Michael Portillo's two failed leadership bids, and Steve Norris's two doomed ...
The Liverpool Community Environment Network is holding an open meeting next month. Its at the Quaker House on School Lane on 4 Feb, starting at 10.00. Speakers include Eric Bichard as well as reps from the City Council. Speakers will be focusing on issues like growing food, the built environment and parks and open spaces. It should finish around 3.00. A bread and soup lunch is being provided (although I don't know if you have to pay for that)
Now that the Standards and Privileges Committee has decided that Derek Conway should repay several thousand pounds that wrongly went on employing one of his sons, Duncan Borrowman (who lodged a complaint originally about the whole affair) says: I call again for the Metropolitan Police to investigate Mr Conway for fraud. You can read more on Duncan's blog.
I was struck by this post by Ol from Cardiff Student Lib Dems who has written about a trip him and his fellow members took to the commons yesterday to watch PMQs as a guest of Jenny Willot. He relates how a fellow student described the "baying crowds" of MPs as "so rude". Shouting down others and laughing, talking during questions and "essentially showing the worst elements of humanity". He also makes a very valuable point about how the government and parliament on the one hand wish to try and influence younger people to have respect for one other and ...
I have received unconfirmed information from the Police that the Bail Hostel in Redland Park will be closed in a very short period of time. This comes after many residents and your Local Councillors complained about lack of consultation on its arrival in Redland Park 6 months ago. I will keep residents informed of further developments on this issue as soon as I have clarification...
What would it take for the Scottish Lib Dems to back the new budget that the Gnats will be putting before the Scottish Parliament, following the rejection of the original yesterday? Caron has already given one answer and that's certainly something worthy of consideration. But I would like to throw something else into the discussion, which I think would be equally beneficial. It looks like we're not going to get the 2p income tax cut we proposed, but that doesn't mean we should abandon all ideas of doing something to help the economy. Looking at our manifesto from the 2007 ...
Mark Pack asked this very question - What sort of recession is this anyway? - on LDV the other day. Yesterday, the IMF offered a top down view which is frankly frightening. My political activity began in the economic chaos of the early Thatcher years and I live in fear of a return to the levels of unemployment of the 1980s. How does it look from Southend? Immediately after selection as Liberal Democrat candidates for the two Southend consituencies, Graham Longley and I decided to find out for ourselves. We used the party's small business survey as a basis for ...
This week the Scotland Office hosted a briefing session and reception for the Principals and Chairmen for Scotland's forty three further education colleges including Bill McIntosh, the Principal of Carnegie College, and Graham Bowstead, his Chairman. It was a valuable exchange - even after I tipped a glass of wine (fortunately white) over Bill's suit. Bill - hope it's dry now! The part that the college can play in the economic recovery that will be necessary in West Fife to overcome this recession is immense. Upskilling and reskilling thousands of young and mature students, including those for the new Aircraft ...
The current fondness for "Social media" suggests that much of the media isn't 'social', yet perusing the racks at your local newsagent will produce reams of printed matter coving the social antics of the glitterati and Z-listers whom — for a reason I've never been able to fathom — many people across the country actually profess to be avidly interested in. Arguably the better term would relate to social media as content which is both user-created but also publicly accessible and — most importantly — where discussions between users take place. I am an avid Twitterer ( {Link to twitter} ...
"It would be important to recognise that the first minister is not the prime minister, nor is Alex Salmond the Queen." This was Tavish Scott on Radio Scotland this morning. He's a natural communicator - with a touch of humour. Tavish is doing a grand job as our Scottish Leader. Not only did he lead the charge on the HBOS/Lloyds TSB merger but has remained principled and responsive throughout Alex Salmond's budget debacle. Keep going Tavish.
Wallington South Safer Neighbourhoods Team Ward Panel Meeting At this meeting we had a report from the Schools Liaison Officer who updated us on her work with the local schools and answered our questions. I fed back the latest news on the Wallington Station Access Scheme and proposals to address the Woodcote Road bus stop issues. Cllr [...]
Last night was the regular meeting of the Council's Executive Committee. This is the regular meeting which brings together the nine Executive Members from the ruling Conservative Group of the Council; myself and the Leader of the Labour Group are observer members of the Committee (with no vote). Last night's meeting was dominated by two major issues that are facing the Council at the present time; the proposed "amalgamation" of Radcliffe Riverside and Derby High Schools, and the future of residential care for elderly people. Public question time was dominated by the former issue, with a large number of parents ...
Who'd have guessed that mutuals would have better customer service? The Times reports that six of the 9 banks with better than average customer service are mutuals - four building societies, the Co-operative Bank, and top of the list Smile - the coop bank's online subsidiary. Number 10 in the list is HSBC, but they didn't manage to exceed the average for the industry. Bottom of the list is the
I have shamelessly nicked this screen shot from Iain Dale's blog. I am sure he will not mind. Vince Cable is not of course the Liberal Democrat Leader despite the machinations of BBC's News at Ten. Still he is a major asset and we are big fans.
Barack Obama is a talker, which is a welcome relief from his inarticulate predecessor's petulant refusal to talk to anyone he didn't like. Obama realises that the US needs to have - and be seen to have - an open dialogue with the Muslim world. This week, he gave his first interview with a foreign news agency to al-Arabiya TV as he sought to soothe US-Muslim relations and reaffirm his commitment to talk to Iran. And he has sent George Mitchell to the Middle East on an eight-country listening tour. In his interview, Obama said "the language we use matters", ...
Yesterday was a busy day for CSLD. We travelled to London, as Jenny Willot's guests, to watch our Prime Minister answer the questions in the great bear-pit of Westminster. It was a fascinating experience, to see it all in action. Gordon Brown looks a lot smaller "in real life". And I could sense real anger and hatred between the two, even more than when they are on TV. It was amazing. Well worth the visit, anyone who ever wants to go! As to the content? Well, both David Cameron and Gordon Brown made use of "student politics" as an insult. ...
That's actually a lie, it is a great facility for fathers of any vintage. Last week while attending the launch party of the Earl Shilton SureStart Children's Centre (highly recommended) I came across a flyer for a website called www.dad.info This website is essentially a one stop shop for all things fatherhood. It deals with everything from what to do from the moment yoe learn you are to be a father, to the more complex areas of money, relationships, health and pretty much everything in between. I'm pleased that at last some efforts are being made to support fathers, and ...
This is incredible. David Bergman has used a Gigapan imager and specialist software to create a truly massive image of the Inauguration. You can zoom in and still get incredibly strong images of different sections of the crowd. The best comparison I can make is with Google Earth - the ability to pan and zoom on different sections. Why this is special is because the stitching between the different images is relatively faultless. Imagine trying to do this by hand. You take, say, five images panning across the horizon. Your hands wobble, the camera skews and the focal length means ...
Plaid Cymru's leader at Westminster Elfyn Llwyd has claimed that some Welsh MPs are deliberately slowing down the devolution process in an "unconstitutional" way. He has argued in the Western Mail that some MPs on the cross-party Welsh Affairs Select Committee are too keen to amend and water down requests from the Assembly for greater powers: "They are acting as a second chamber for the National
I woke up this morning to the voice of Conservative MP Edward Leigh, who was ranting about levels of literacy and numeracy in the UK, but clearly didn't know what functionally literate and numerate meant. He also demonstrated that he didn't know the difference between Mathematics and numeracy. I started arguing loudly with the radio (to complaints from Ian), but that seemed a rather...
We have launched our paper analysing the effect of Gordon Brown's fiscal rules, and rival proposals to replace them with a committee of impartial wise men. We don't like either policy, and urge a return to the pre-Brown era where Chancellors felt obliged to present their tough choices to Parliament, uncloaked by the technocratic device of a rule that merely served to obscure a deteriorating fiscal position. Real political choices were being made for us - higher public investments in return for higher debt - and the rules stopped this being seen clearly. It happened to coincide with the launch ...
Welcome to the eigth edition of Lib Dig Pig, being a roundup of non-Lib Dem oriented gems on the internet, as voted by Lib Dem members using Lib Dig (if you aren't one, and are a Lib Dem member, sign up here: http://libdig.co.uk). I thought I'd try a slight change of format this week: less snark, more links. Also, to encourage you to explore Lib Dig more, I'm including the name of the person who submitted each item along with a link so you can see what other things they've been "digging." So without further ado, the top links this ...
The Guardian's Patrick Barkham has the story of the strange connection between Tinchy Stryder "a 22-year-old grime artist from east London, enjoying the highest new entry at No 3 in this week's singles chart" and Norman Lamb "a middle-aged Liberal Democrat MP from Norfolk": Stryder's tiny independent record label was created by Lamb's son, Archie, when he was just 17, after his Lib Dem dad remortgaged their home to loan him £10,000. Archie and his friend Jack Foster dropped out of school after booking Stryder - then completely unknown - for their urban music nights in Norwich and persuading him ...
9am, and a man from Du Pont (which I think is the world's biggest chemical company) knocks on my door. I had forgotten he was coming and had just returned from the parliament's gym. He stood in his suit for our conversation while I stood, dripping sweat, in my shorts (but after 40 years as a runner I bet my naked leg muscles were better than his covered ones). The topic was HFCs, hydrofluorocarbons, which are used as refrigerants in supermarket chill chests, in air conditioning, and in foam insulation. Those in use today have an average global warming potential ...
Interesting article in today's Western Mail about the man who would be First Minister of Wales, Merthyr Tydfil AM, Huw Lewis. We are told that he has been busy reinventing himself in preparation for the contest to succeed Rhodri Morgan: Probable Labour leadership contender Huw Lewis yesterday morning brandished his business credentials when he set out a vision for innovation in Wales. Mr Lewis - previously more comfortable taking part in marches alongside his comrades - called for investment in industries such as digital media, while admitting less money will be available to support the public sector. At a breakfast ...
I watched the last episode of Million Dollar Traders last night and was suprised to find that this group managed, while not making a forune, to fare better than a lot of hedge funds did during the recent stock market seizure. It was a shame the programme did not delve deeper into the selection/training programme and out-of-hours thought proceses of the novice traders but it was interesting to see a snap-shot of the industry that we all love to hate at the moment. Most revealing were team management skills. I'm sure I wasn't the only one yelling 'sack them!' as ...
Tavish Scott, Lib Dem leader of the Scottish Lib Dems, has offered to open discussions with the SNP government in Scotland to resolve the budget breakdown triggered by the Holyrood parliament's rejection of the SNP's budget for 2009-10. Though the Tories fell in line with the SNP, the 16-strong Lib Dem group, together with Labour and the Greens, voted against - the budget was ultimately defeated on the casting vote of the presiding officer. But this morning the BBC reports: The Liberal Democrats want discussions with the Scottish Government about what concessions might gain their support for a revised budget. ...
The messages are mixed and yet there is hope that progress can be made in the Middle East. Obama plays the right mood music. The appointment of George Mitchell is to be welcomed hugely; the man's independence and track record speaks for itself. But then there is Hilary Clinton giving words of support for Israeli actions that most across the world condemn. Maybe she has to - good cop, bad cop - but her business-as-usual signals suggest that the hope could prove forlorn. I don't think the majority of Israelis have the slightest desire to create a genuinely viable and ...
As BBC News reports: The government has won a vote over plans for Heathrow's third runway - but saw its majority cut to just 19. ... The Lib Dems supported the [motion urging the Government to "rethink" plans] but the ministers argue scrapping the plans would seriously damage the economy. More than 50 Labour MPs had previously expressed concerns about the plans in other Commons motions but only 28 of them voted for the Conservative motion on Wednesday. It's an all-too familiar scenario - Labour MPs queue up to sign Early Day Motions criticising their own party, then use their ...
Over at Freedom Central discussions have turned to North Wales Plaid Cymru AM, Janet Ryder and her abrupt departure as her party's education spokesperson. This morning's Western Mail has some of the answers even if Janet's explanation does not seem to fit very well with the circumstances of her 'resignation'. Janet told the newspaper that she quit because she was "unhappy with some aspects of the Learning and Skills measure, and the lack of progress in achieving improvements to the measure. I have had many meetings with the minister responsible over the past months, and some significant improvements have been ...
A couple of weeks back I published a post challenging Iain Dale's blind defence of Israeli actions in Gaza. I got a comment from the blogfather himself (Bwahaha my ego-boosting plan worked!) just acknowledging that there are two sides. Because of this, I was trying to think of an argument against the Israeli actions that would convince a Tory (i.e. a selfish argument). So, I put in the comments at the time that they would make me in the UK less safe. It now seems that the counter-terrorism minister Lord West agrees with me. Obviously this is all obvious stuff ...
Last night's cross-party discussions on the Dundee City Council Budget for 2009/10 were both productive and useful. It is clear that all parties on the Council wish to see the Council Tax held to as reasonable a figure as possible and hopefully a freeze in the charge at 2008/9 levels. The city council's Labour/LibDem administration has been working hard to achieve this and it was both productive and useful for the group leaders of all the parties on the council to meet to discuss the matter and hopefully find a positive route forward in advance of the budget being set ...
Jim Packard writes on the Financial Times Westminster blog: Lord Tyler, the excellent Lib Dem peer, tells me that he sat on a committee in 1999 (including various law Lords and others) which decided that there was an urgent need forstronger rules to suspend misbehaving Lords. Somewhere along the line it was kicked into the long grass."The committee sat for eighteen months," he says with a sigh.
Just listening to the Today programme on the recommendation of the chief medical officer, Liam Donaldson, than children shouldn't drink alcohol before the age of 15. All slightly surreal as it seemed to be entirely evidence free. He didn't seem to be able to point to any evidence that children being given the odd drink by parents in a controlled environment actually did any harm. What would such evidence look like? It might show that children allowed to try alcohol at a young age by parents, in a controlled way such as at meal times, were more likely to drink ...
The BBC reports that Starbucks are cutting 6,700 jobs worldwide, with the closure of 300 stores. This may have something to do with the announcement that quarterly profits were down 69%, although I'd like to think that my decision to give up my regular vanilla latte was a contribution. Frankly, I'm surprised that it has taken this long, given the cost of their product. However, it is a sign that
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Just listening to Martin Narey who is saying that `there is a point at which when adoption or care would be better for a child`; that sometimes working with families isn't good enough. I agree with that - parenting is a responsibility to be EARNT - and I think parents should prove it if their abilities [...]
Known, understood, but little spoken of... London's celebrated gay past (is that a contradiction?). Joe Orton is a sell out playwright, but there is a dark story-ending to his glittering ability (he was murdered by his partner) and the much reported court case of Islington Libraries combine with this public toilet in South End Green, Hampstead (picture right and interior below left). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Orton http://www.joeorton.org/ This is the only toilet still in use that Joe Orton is confirmed as having 'used' and so it enjoys something of a touch of notoriety... http://www.qxmagazine.com/pdf/gayhistory-north.pdf The toilet itself is bizarrely pretty and glamorous and ...
While some are accusing the Lib Dems of playground behaviour*. While the Scotsman thinks it only took two men to bring down the Budget. The far more telling thing is the hissy fit being carried out by the Ego that is the First Minister. Yet again the great Ego of Banff, Buchan & Gordon though lesserly of Westminster and formerly of this parish is threatening to take his ball away. All of this when the lesson learnt from the three parties who voted against his was that he wasn't doing enough. Admittedly there was not agreement on what the enough ...
Subtly and very carefully bits of the Disaster Emergency Committee (DEC) Gaza Appeal have been slipping out from the BBC Newsroom even if the Director General Mark Thompson and the senior editors have taken the stance that is shouldn't. The following clip from Tuesday Morning shows the newspapers add plus the phone and website address from the video itself over coverage of the story. The fact that the newsroom are doing what they can to get the message out there is surely doing more to flaunt the impartiality of the BBC's reporting than if the appeal had been shown in ...
Jeremy Purvis talking about the Scottish Budget vote and where next.
See, this is what winds me up: A recession is not a failure of the markets. It is exactly what the markets are supposed to do - correct, weed out the crap, produce something better by seeing what works and what does not - it's just that in our case it's the entire finance sector and an entire country that's being hit with the 'you made the wrong choice' stick. Interconnection and mutual dependency means we all go down with the the dross - but then whether or not the rest of society is willing to take a sacrifice and ...
