I am pleased that the Scottish Parliament has finally agreed its Budget - partly, of course, because it lifts the uncertainty that was hanging over the ability of our local authority (and the 31 others across Scotland) in being able to set its own budget a week tomorrow. The degree of willingness to find consensus across the parties in the parliament was positive; as a result we now have a Scottish Budget that is better for Scotland than the original SNP proposals. Tavish Scott has rightly said that politicians need to think beyond tomorrow's headlines - it is important for ...
Lay Scientist has done some interesting research into that nurse who got "suspended" for offering to pray for a patient. I'll just mention a couple of the things he has uncovered: she wasn't suspended, and her lawyers have links with Nadine Dorries. Are you interested in photography? Photographs, eh? Nudge nudge grin grin snap snap wink wink end up in jail? Yup, that's right, you have less than eight days left to practise free photography. From February the 12th taking pictures of a member of the armed forces, intelligence services, or police without prior consent could land you in prison ...
The decision to block ITV, Channel 4 and the BBC from working together on their project Kangaroo video and TV download system absolutely beggars belief in this era of global internet competition. Together "Kangaroo" could have become a major player not just in the UK, but across the world, with consumers needing just one system in order to provide content from a range of providers. However, the small minded idiots who have to make judgements on such systems decided that duplication of systems with ITV, Channel 4 and the BBC each providing their own systems was the way forward. Presumably ...
Do the words 'piss up' and 'brewery' spring to mind when considering how local authorities have dealt with the recent spell of bad weather? True, few institutions have come out of the last few days with their reputation enhanced, but none have handled the crisis quite as incompetently as our Local Councils. Network Rail and the Train Operating Companies have at least put on some train services. With the exception of Boris Johnson's decision on Monday, bus drivers have in the main kept buses running on untreated roads. The Highways Agency seems to have done a good job in keeping ...
Wed 4th
22:43
The complete and utter hopeless incompetence of ITV and their FA Cup coverage of Everton vs Liverpoo...
After 90 minutes of football and 28 minutes of extra time, with the score Everton 0, Liverpool 0, for some completely unexplainable reason ITV decided to go to an advert break whilst the match was still playing, only to return from the break with Everton having scored ! Absolute total rubbish coverage from ITV and further proof why they are not fit to cover sport. Update :And now to compound matters, they have returned from the post match advert break half way through an interview with the Everton goalscorer ! The half hearted throw away apology for "technical problems" does ...
Colin Rosenstiel has been in the headlines today - such as "999 Shame of Council Jobsworth" in the Daily Mirror - over an unfortunate incident involving his bicycle and an ambulance. Now Disgruntled Radical has awoken to pay tribute to the man: Cllr. Rosenstiel once argued with a policeman who told him he couldn't ride down Burleigh Street in Cambridge because it was one-way. "No it isn't" said Colin, "It's just no entry at that end and I walked in." Colin went on to dumbfound the poor copper telling him that he (Colin) was on the relevant council committee and ...
South Glos have put some advice on their website and promise to update it regularly with information for the public if the snow arrives as forecast tomorrow. The page includes links to the GWR and BBC Bristol websites, where you can find a list of school closures. This is a link to the Met Office Bristol forecast.
Stephen Glenn has a movie quote game on his blog that I thought I would emulate. He explains the rules: Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.Post them in a note for everyone to guess.NO GOOGLING/using IMDB search functions.So here are my 20 quotations. Please leave your answers as a comment. I shall fill in the answers as they are guessed. It may help you to bear in my mind that, thanks to my taste in films, not many of these are terribly recent. The winner gets tea at Bonkers Hall (terms and conditions apply). Film 1 ...
Here's a nice thought with which to retire tonight. Under the UN Convention on Torture of which the United Kingdom is a signatory, if there is any prima facie evidence that anyone in the UK government (or indeed the US government) knew of, condoned or participated in torture, can our judges immediately arraign them on charges under the convention? Please! <!-- google_ad_client = "pub-8502734622986536"; /* 468x15 */ google_ad_slot = "9254756953"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 15; //-->
Before I go on to write a bit more about Final Crisis itself (though after pillock's perfect review - written without having read a single panel of the comic - I doubt any more on the subject need be said ) I thought I'd talk a little about the weird way in which DC have [...]
Liberal drinks is tomorrow! That is all.
Course representatives I have continued work on the course representative conference. The booking form has been open for 4 days at the time of writing and over 60 course representatives have registered, which is an impressive number. I have begun work on my sessions in the course representative conference (the opening session, and education funding), and will organise a meeting to discuss the education funding session in more detail late this week or early next week. The next round of course rep meetings on a school-by-school basis are coming around very quickly. The dates on our end have been determined ...
The BBC should have red faces not red noses. On 13th March, Red Nose Day, they will be asking for money "to make a difference to the lives of thousands of people living in abject poverty, or facing terrible injustice, both across Africa and in the UK" but not of course in Gaza, because helping people there would make "a range of people" think that the BBC is not impartial. I complained to the
I never thought to dream of Colin Rosenstiel and therefore when I heard his name on the Today Programme this morning, I knew I was awake. Colin has been reprimanded by the Standards Board for England for blocking an ambulance with his bicycle. It must be true - it was in the Sun. I am ready to believe it. Cllr. Rosenstiel once argued with a policeman who told him he couldn't ride down
I don't remember snow days when I was at school though I guess they must have happened. I do recall the brilliant winter of 1963, the ice not melting off the inside our non centrally-heated bedroom, sledging in the fields at the bottom of the lane, skid-pan cycling etc etc. My family shared in the universal joy on Monday and Tuesday and the children were able to use their sledge properly for the first time in years. My car took its own holiday as the attached photo shows, and we went for a wonderful winter walk. I don't think my ...
{3253841512bdafa7b05b.jpg} Before we had search engines
Glad to see that Kezia Dugdale has given her soapbox a lick of paint,and returned to the Blogosphere with a splash of colour! She's joined the ever growing ranks of us twitterers too. Welcome back, Kez. LibDig This!
Got another tag on Facebook and thought I'd share it with you all. I'll reveal the answers as they are guessed either here or there. Pick 20 of your favorite movies. - Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie. - Post them in a note for everyone to guess. - NO GOOGLING/using IMDB search functions. - NO LOOKING AT MY PROFILE TO SEE MY FAVORITE MOVIES!!! Easy one to start 1. Did you hear that? They shut down the main reactor. We'll be destroyed for sure. This is madness. Star Wars : Episode IV - A New ...
From politics.co.uk: At a press conference on Tuesday committee chairman Phil Willis condemned students for being too naive about their prospects. He called on them to choose subjects based on the demands of business, not their own interests.The committee referred to is the Commons select committee on innovation, universities, science and skills.
In response to the Obama campaigner, Labour party activist and no longer former bloggers question "A girl can change her mind, can't she?" I'd like to say (before the Obama's impose copyright sanctions) "Yes she can". Only yesterday she appeared on Twitter: Well it took a total of 8 hours and 37 minutes from the commencement of Micro Blogging for the soapbox to be given a fresh lick of paint and to reappear from under the melting snow. At least until she announced that she had changed her mind.It's good to have you back Kez. Now it only we can ...
I was browsing ConservativeHome.com the other day (as one does), and came across an interesting piece from one of its two editors, Jonathan Isaby. He was warning Tory activists not to sound triumphalist about the prospect of winning a 100-seat majority at the next election, in case it turned off electors - particularly in Lib Dem-held target seats. Mr Isaby states that, if they are to win a majority, the Tories must try and win back most of the thirty-odd seats which the party has lost to the Liberal Democrats over the last decade or so." Warming to this theme, ...
I can remember having several days off school because the teachers were on strike (well, it was the 1970s) and one blissful summer day when we were turned back at the gates because the school had no water supply. But I can never remember having a day off school because it had snowed. Which suggests to me that those folk memories of wading through snow drifts to get to school in the bitter winters of 1946/7 and 1962/3 may have something in them. Why were so many schools closed earlier this week when the weather conditions were not that extreme? ...
Wed 4th
19:19
Torture of British Citizens: Brown should release papers now and Europe must stick together
PRESS RELEASE - SOUTH EAST LIB DEMS FOR EUROPE CAMPAIGN www.libdems4europe.org.uk HOOK: UK Must Come Clean On Torture Claims Reacting to today's revelations of threats made to British judges that the US might withdraw from intelligence co-operation with Britain, south east Liberal Democrat candidate for the European Parliament Antony Hook said, "It is an outrage if British citizens [...]
I am on the More Four News website offering my reaction to their marginal constituency poll. Notice that I am actually nice about Nick Clegg.
Was watching the One Show and have just see Alistair McGowan at mine and many other people's plot of land near Heathrow. It was an intersting little peace about protesters, of all types, backgournds etc. It's not as Alistairs points out all the lefty, liberal, whacky, tree hugging, hippy types much as Jeremy Clarkson would want to have us all believe. But as Alistair also pointed out we do have a history of protest and sees that like throwing a shoe we could be heading to more inventive ways of protest. As the Gaza March in Edinburgh showed with the ...
This week, Charlie Brooker gave the world the New Media Dictionary. For me, the most memorable term described in this list is this: nowtrage (nowt-rage) n. Lame and unconvincing tabloid outrage designed to create a self-perpetuating storm of controversy. Also, nowtrageous (adj); eg: "This Jonathan Ross pensioner sex-joke story in the News of the World is embarrassingly nowtrageous." Two days later and we are in the grip of "Thatchgate" - yet another example of the collective nervous breakdown that is currently going on inside Auntie Beeb. My first reaction to this story was "ooh, doesn't Mark Stephens' hair make him ...
Over at the Channel 4 News politics website, Lib Dem blogger James Graham gives his brief take on the latest YouGov poll of Conservative-Labour marginals showing Labour on 36% (-2% since Oct '08), the Tories on 43% (n/c) and the Lib Dems at 13% (+1%). Here's an excerpt: This poll tells us nothing about how the Lib Dems might be doing in terms of seats because of the constituencies chosen, but nonetheless it does give us some idea about how the party is doing in terms of fighting the 'air war'. The headline figures show a small, albeit statistically insignificant, ...
I have just had an email from Pendle Truth who has brought to my attention a concern he has with Iain Dale. Pendle Truth has told me that he left a comment on Iain Dale's blog as you can see here but Iain deleted the comment. I asked Pendle Truth what the comment was about and he replied by saying that he was questioning the " sexual orientation" of Andrew Stephenson? I personally don't know why he was asking the question but Iain shouldn't have deleted it because it shows that Iain is someone who doesn't like comments that question ...
Plenty of media coverage today of Lib Dem Cambridge city councillor Colin Rosentiel following a complaint made against him to the Standards Board for England - the Telegraph's account is the most detailed I've seen: Liberal Democrat councillor Colin Rosenstiel stopped the vehicle as crews tried to reach an injured person at a summer festival on common land in Cambridge. Mr Rosenstiel rode his bicycle into the path of the ambulance, blocking the entrance, and refused to budge because he claimed cars were not allowed on the grass. The emergency crew eventually manoeuvred around him but, on leaving the ground, ...
Pandora in the Independent reports that Lembit Opik thinks this week's weather is a good reason for allowing the use of his beloved Segways on public roads. He has tabled a parliamentary motion claiming more people would have made it to work through the snow if Segways been legalised for highway use. Read it for yourself: it is no. 655. So far the only other MP to have signed it is Angus MacNeil from Na h-Eileanan an Iar. A Segwaying holiday in the Outer Hebrides? I'd sign up for that.
The new European Liberal Democrats website was launched today. Posted in Campaigning, Europe
Spent morning at Microsoft in my role as Chair of the new Technology Advisory Board - and later was on Simon Mayo's program talking about Twitter. Three other mega-enthusiasts were there too - twittering as the program was live with live responses coming in. Talking of which, Simon Mayo got an email in from one of my constituents asking if I could contact Haringey Council about Fortis Green pavement being extremely icey. After the program - I did - and Haringey said they would go out at once as a priority. The power of Twitter and the Simon Mayo program ...
The Telegraph nows says that One Show insiders say that Carol Thatcher was referring to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga when she made her green room "Golliwog" remark - not Gael Monfils as was reported elsewhere earlier. Thatcher's agent is now demanding an apology from the BBC. They (the Thatcher camp) just don't get it, do they? Is this a matter of free speech (as mentioned at Himmelgarten Cafe)? Hardly.
As an avid sofa supporter of pretty much every kind of sport going (although I admittedly have little time for flat season racing and boxing), I've been greatly intrigued by the recent thinking about 'modernising' snooker by 'jazzing it up' a little, to make it a more eye-catching sport for us mere mortals to watch. I think it's the great Ronnie O'Sullivan who has started the recent round of fevered debate on this issue by explaining his opinion that if snooker is not going to fade away and die as a spectacle, it needs to take a leaf out of ...
Maverick Tory MP David Davis today raised, in the House of Commons, an explosive question which requires immediate answers. It follows a High Court judgement in which British judges lamented they were unable to publish evidence of human rights abuses in the case before them, because the US had threatened it would cease cooperation with Britain. Questions must also be raised as to the repeated assertions of Tony Blair, Jack Straw and numerous other Labour officials that Britain was not complicit in torture (as detailed, with sources, here). It is suggested that the suppression of evidence comes because of a ...
Excellent! The Beeb have a drama of the Thatch's last days coming up on BBC 2 towards the end of February. You can take part in a quiz about here, guessing which actor will play which part. It's got a really distinguished cast of luvvies playing the main characters, including Lindsay Duncan playing the Thatch herself. Also on the cast list are Robert Hardy (as Wobbly chins Whitelaw), John
Yesterday I blogged about how Iain Dale had started of the rumour that John Prescott does now write his own blog, well the bruiser himself replied with a V. No he didn't stick fingers up at Iain Dale in a V gesture actually he posted a video log over at Go Fourth. In the Video John makes some good points that I really enjoyed. John says that he doesn't type everything that goes onto the blog but he does write the material that is typed up on his behalf. I personally would have expected that because John isn't young is ...
Liberal Democrats like him get my goat click here - living in Sale I'm sure he has many options open to him that aren't there in other parts of the UK. He made a good case for globalisation (there is no REAL alternative unless we ensure each employee applies for jobs on an equal basis within [...]
The Welsh Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson, Peter Black has called for urgent action by the Health Minister following the publication of the monthly response times for the Ambulance Service in Wales that shows a continuing deterioration in the service. For the fourth month running, the response time for Ambulances arriving at a scene within the target eight minutes, has fallen from 60.9% in
Wed 4th
14:55
Welsh Lib Dems lead first motion for annulment of subordinate legislation in this Third Assembly by ...
Welsh Liberal Democrats take a lead in the Assembly today, bringing forward the first motion of annulment to be tabled in this Third Assembly. They are seeking to annul the Nitrate Pollution Prevention Regulations 2008 that seek to extend the areas in Wales designated as Nitrate Vulnerable Zones. In tabling this motion we were not seeking to avoid addressing genuine pollution issues arising from
I spoke in last night's Parliamentary debate about child protection, talking around the issues to learn from the death of Baby P. You can read my speech here.
Earlier this week, Iain Dale doubted whether or not John Prescott really pens his blog. John Prescott has taken to YouTube to make his case: Click here to view the embedded video. Iain seems to have taken it all in good heart.
Go to a restaurant, or a hotel. Look around. You'll notice a distinct lack of something. Employees? No. Quality Service? Hopefully not? The answer is British people. The man carrying your luggage probably hails from Eastern Europe. The sommelier has come from Turkey. The lady cleaning the toilet in your room may well be from Brazil. So why is no-one striking for them? One of the most British things imaginable, horse racing, employs a significant number of Poles, Arabs, etc. Not too many British people. So why aren't people on the streets for them? Why does no-one care that, in ...
The Ofcom Report into the future of public service broadcasting in the UK was published last week, so the Select Committee on Communications used today's meeting to quiz the Chief Executive, Ed Richards, on his findings. The first set of witnesses though, came from BSkyB, and offered an alternative to the accepted world view of PSB. They argue that they are major providers of public service content through their subscription channels such as History, Discovery and Sky Arts, and that they have put choice in the hands of the viewers rather than in the hands of schedulers and regulators. Ed ...
Family holdiays at Butlins holiday camps used to be so popular that they made a TV series about them. Now, according to today's Western Mail they are making a comeback. The paper reports on a £50m investment by Pontins in its camps in response to market trends, which show increasing demand for budget accommodation among recession- hit holidaymakers. The Caravan Club has also announced a 40% rise in demand for holidays on its sites: Pontin's, which is now owned by Ocean Parcs, says its site in Prestatyn, North Wales, stands to benefit through a complete refurbishment and the creation of ...
Or so ran the headline in today's Metro freesheet (London Edition at least). Copping sight of this banner over someone's shoulder whilst crammed into a Central Line train (as one does), I naturally assumed this was a story about placebo being meted out to patients at the Bristol NHS Homeopathy 'Hospital', or a story about how GPs are prescribing sugar pills for back pain and that sort of thing.
Just musing on some of the random incidents that have happened in life over the last couple of days, taking in trains, driving, Titian and the Pope. I drove from home to Milton Keynes on Monday. Yes, that was the day everything stopped. I had to be in MK for meetings on Tuesday so I was determined to get there one way or another. I drove first from Ringmer to Lewes. Main roads clear, no problem. I went to Lewes train station (internet information not reliable enough at this point, despite #uktrains on Twitter). They hadn't even tried to put ...
I've been sort of watching Derek Draper's Twit Bitch at Iain Dale this morning starting here. It doesn't surprise me too much as Draper seem woefully unable to remain civil in the blogosphere and his blogiquette is atrocious. It started with the statement: LabourList has suspended Iain Dale from our blogroll until he clears up remarks he has made about "Golliwog" being an acceptable term. Actually if you Iain's original post you find that he was actually pointing out inconsistencies in the BBC's policy over racist comments. He cited Chris Moyles as an example who got away with it not ...
Last night was the Our City Our Future Debate (which has previously been called the State of the City Debate). The attendees were a mix of councillors and council officers, representatives from partners, representatives from some community organisations, young people from the Schools Parliament etc. We were looking at Sustainable Development and the Credit Crunch. A very interesting short talk by Eric Bichard in the plenary. I went to the workshop on economic development. Procurement kept coming up and I mentioned that I had been asked to lead on setting up a procurement group of members within the council to ...
Last Thursday, I was sent out to go and buy some bacon. Luckily Sainsbury's had some nice-looking branded (Walls) bacon on one of their special offer end-of-aisle displays. It had a third off. This usually means it's nearing it's sell-by date. This was surprisingly not the case. The packaging had block read and blue colouring and had a suitably regal-looking crest which would make the casual observer (i.e., me) think it was British. That night we watched Jamie Saves Our Bacon on which he used that very pack as an example of a bacon pack that is designed to mislead ...
Over the last few months, Transport for London has been running a series of adverts, principally on tubes, buses, stations and shelters encouraging people to behave responsibly when using their services and encouraging people to visit their site www.togetherforlondon.org. However, the website side of the campaign has been criticised for getting only derisory amounts of traffic with, for example, only 12 ideas posted up during December. Or as an Evening Standard story put it before Christmas: An official website hailed as "Facebook for commuters" was branded a disaster by experts today. Together for London was billed as a forum where ...
{welsh-id-card1} The Home Office has not included the Welsh language on ID cards because the words are considered too long to fit on the cards. This is despite the Home Office saying that it "has adopted the principle that in the conduct of public business and the administration of justice in Wales, it will treat the English and Welsh languages on a basis of equality." Wales Online reports: Despite Welsh being used on driving licences and passports, the language was not used on the design of ID cards, which are already being issued to foreign nationals. Junior Home Office minister ...
Horizon last night did a reasonably balanced program looking at the various claims for and against cannabis, the world's most popular illicit drug. You can watch it again on iPlayer if you missed it. They looked into its history - that it is likely that it has been used by humans for around 3,000 years at least. Into claims that it is a "gateway drug" that encouraged users to move onto harder drugs which showed in trials with rats that this was unlikely. And into claims that it damaged young brains which in trials with mice seemed to suggest that ...
We've been waiting a long time for TfL to improve the traffic lights at Malden Rushett, but the work will finally start next week. The only problem is that traffic will inevitably be slowed down whilst temporary lights are used, so you have been warned. We've been told that the work should take four weeks.
Carol Thatcher apparently compares black tennis player, Gael Monfis - pictured right, (and not as Iain Dale told us, Andy Murray) to a 'golliwog' in a private conversation, and is removed as roving reporter by the BBC from the One Show. Howls of protest! I heard part of Iain Dale's views on the Today programme, where he called it 'political correctness' on the part of the BBC. I disagree. Iain Dale and others should ask black people brought up in the 60's what they think. The term 'golliwog' is not just reference to a 'cute toy on the label of ...
Local residents have told the Neighbourhood Policing Team recently what issues concern them most and what policing priorities should be. Consultation is through police surgeries, residents meetings and 'Your Community Matters' events.
During this prolonged cold spell gritting lorries have been out across Southport and the rest of Sefton. Working within existing council policy, major roads and bus routes have been gritted - which covers about 35% of all roads.
He says she was talking about Andy Murray when she used the word "golliwog" in a conversation with One Show presenters. So it wasn't Gael Monfils then? I am trying to imagine that rough Midlander Adrian Chiles being offended by someone calling Andy Murray a "golliwog"... ....No I can't.... UPDATE 9:46: Iain has just added a note to his post saying that he is now "reliably informed" that the
The decision of the Labour-Plaid Cymru Coalition Government not to pass on all of the 4.6% increase in grant they received from Westminster to local councils is starting to come back to haunt them. News is filtering through that local government is being forced into making swinging cuts in services whilst at the same time seeking council tax increases as close as possible to the 5% capping limit
Is frustrated that Mac Disk Utility seems incapable of repairing an external disk while Ubuntu can see HFS disk but not access all the d ...
Last night was Cabinet, on which I sat as a non-voting representative of the Lib Dems along with Heather Scott for the Conservatives, the Labour Chair of Resources Scrutiny and Alastair MacConachie, Chair of Darlington Partnership. Cabinet attracts more interest from the public than Council, mainly because, apart from the budget, it is Cabinet where all formal power within the local authority
Blogging shall be light today because I am going to Manchester Airport, don't worry blog readers I am not going on holiday and abandoning the blog far from it. Actually I am going to a trip with College to check out the ICT systems at the Airport! I shall try and blog when I get back from their if not you will have to just wait until tomorrow for more posts!
The normal run of events for those times when you take downtime to recharge your batteries your hits should drop off. In my case the recent lightness of posting is down to an intense weekend of blogging the Scottish Roundup and having deep discussions of a personal nature (occassionally both concurrently). However, my stat porn has not been affected by blogging light, indeed it is up. The reason is my 25 Random Things About Me. Off all the lists of 25 things across the interwebby mine is ranked on the front page of google. Heaven knows how. Anyhoo Jimmy* (the ...
In an article for the BBC entitled "Why we need more nannying" the president of the UK Faculty of Public Health argues that I see an increasing acceptance that we, all of us, need not only more information and guidance from government, but also more legislation to save us from ourselves.Alan Maryon-Davis goes on to say I would like to see a ban on smoking in cars with a child on board and a ban on displays of cigarettes in shops. I would like to see a real hike in tax on alcohol and a ban on deep price-cuts for ...
Wednesday 4th February: Bandon Hill School is open today, as is Wallington Girls School. Stanley Park High, Stanley Park Juniors and Infants are all expected to be open too.
With high-profile campaigns against ID cards like NO2ID, it seems the Government is keen to introduce them by stealth. As you can see from this article on Home Office Watch, increasing numbers of people are being given the wonderful opportunity to get a piece of plastic which holds a wide range of their personal data. The arguments against ID cards are many and, well, obvious. And still no sensible arguments in favour of ID cards - not ones that can't be easily refuted anyway. You can sign the Lib Dem petition against ID cards here.
Alongside all the images of people playing in the snow, are scenes of the protestors at Lindsey in North Lincs continuing their picketing. Feelings about the loss of local jobs are heated enough to keep them standing in the cold. These aren't people unwilling or unable to 'get on their bike' when the local plant [...]
10 February 2009 is "Safer Internet Day". Bury Safe (the partnership between the Council and the Police) are circulating information to parents who might be concerned about their children's internet use. Please find below a link to the Think U Know campaign website, which contains useful information for parents and want some hints and tips on how to ensure that their children are safely using their computers. The website is part of the CEOP's ( Child Sexual Exploitation and Online Protection ). http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/
I'm not sure that when Kilburn Park tube was built in 1915 that the impression of a hobbitt hole was intended. But the architecture has an amazing level of charm - due to the cavernous tunnelling effect of the round. Of course what is evident from these pics and day to day use of the station is the need for a serious lick of paint - at first I thought the station had been prepared for a new paint job - but nothing has happened for so long. I have blogged about the station earlier on but the charm ...
Haringey Councillor Fiyaz Mughal and I did a double act at last night's annual dinner of Putney Liberal Democrats, Fiyaz talking about community cohesion in Britain and I about European issues and the European election campaign. The interesting common thread — though we had not conferred in advance — was that of outreach. Fiyaz stressed how [...]
I wouldn't like people to think that it is only English Tory MPs who pay their sons over generous bundles for what seems little work. Scottish Labour MSPs can do it too!
Late with the news as usual, I'm sure you all already know that the Guardian Comment is Free lot have launched a section it calls "Liberty Central" to fight for "civil liberties". On the face of it a good idea and some good names are involved - Henry Porter's blog will be based there and the Liberty pressure group led by my university Chancellor Shami Chakrabati and of which I am a supporter will be hosting a civil liberties clinic. So far so good; we have witnessed (or perhaps too many of us have not actually witnessed, which is why ...
This is one of the most dispiriting things I have read in a long time. I don't begrudge animal charities, but neither do I deem them worthy of my hard-earned cash. The decision of the Scottish SPCA to launch this broadside suggests a complete lack of perspective. Is it really the case that people only give money to an animal charity in the clear understanding that the money will only be spent in a specific country? I'm having visions of the Chief Executive of the SSPCA pissing along Hadrian's Wall to mark out his territory. If the RSPCA have indeed ...
