I nearly forgot to report back with the first full year's worth of performance from the array of solar evacuated tubes on the roof that feed our hotwater system. Fortunately the basic datalogger I have access to still gives the basic '08 readout, and it tells me the system ran for approx 1100 hours during the year and generated a staggering 3498 kWh. {Annual solar output} Nottingham Energy Partnership's comparison cost table suggests that might have cost me around £100-£150 if I'd had to pay for it in gas. Although I didn't watch the system too carefully throughout the year, ...
Over at the Financial Times, Tim Leunig - occasional contributor to LDV, and reader in economics at the London School of Economics - considers the unusual financial origins of the current recession. Here's an excerpt: The global economy would benefit from a pre-announced, temporary, globally co-ordinated bout of moderate inflation. Since it takes about two years for central-bank policy fully to influence inflation, a sensible policy would be to target 4 per cent inflation for the five years from 2011, followed by 2 per cent thereafter. ... An increase in inflation by an extra 2 percentage points for a period ...
Welcome to the 104th - yes, it's our second anniversary, folks! - of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (8th-14th February 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. What's the difference between a Liberal and a Social Democrat? on David Grace's Disgruntled Radical blog. Actually I'm not sure how this made it to number one, since it was published 11 days ago. Still, ...
A good-sized group of Liberal Democrats met at 10am for a spot of delivery - and found that ninety minutes later they had covered the best part of a ward. This was very satisfying - as were some supportive comments from residents as we handed leaflets over. Well done everyone.
From Friday's Guardian, Lib Dems unveil plan for energy-efficient households: Every UK home will be made energy-efficient within 10 years in a compulsory revamp of British housing stock equivalent to the "digital switchover", the Liberal Democrats will promise today. ... The party's ambitious pledge increases pressure on the government, which will today announce its own plans to offer voluntary eco-makovers to one in four British homes. ... It is estimated that carbon emissions from British homes account for a quarter of the country's total. Under EU agreements, the government has 42 years to cut emissions by 80%. ... Announcing his ...
You know a craze is over when the Sunday supplements start featuring them - from today's Sunday Times, '25 random things' confession craze sweeps the internet: Millions of people are revealing 25 'random' and often embarrassing things about themselves in the latest phenomenon to sweep the internet ... The first of [Nick Clegg's] 25 random things is: "The weirdest thing I have ever eaten is fried bees in China." Clegg, you might think, sounds like a fearless action man. Study his list more closely, however, and he comes across as too slick by half. He oils his eco-credentials with his ...
Vince Cable got it completely correct (as always) - on the BBC Andrew Marr Show earlier today he said of all bank bonuses : "They should not be paid, we should be very clear about that. "As a general policy position, no bonuses should be paid to banks that have failed and that are dependent on the taxpayer." Absolutely correct.
Not able to write a new post today, as I'm not very well. However, my proposal for a book in the 33 1/3 series just got rejected today, and so I thought I'd post the proposal for anyone else to read. This is just C&P'd from the RTF file, so it might not be particularly [...]
The photo above is of the neighbourhood recycling facility at the corner of Arklay Terrace and North Court Street. Chris has received several requests for additional recycling facilities in the Maryfield Ward area - if you have any suggestions about improving recycling locally, please let Chris know - many thanks!
Today I had my photo taken for the preparation of a leaflet. This was a surprisingly difficult task. After all, an unfortunate picture could cause problems - just ask David Miliband. One minute he's a candidate for Prime Minister, then a banana and a grin later, and that's the end of that. I guess it is always human nature to be unsure about one's own image but I aimed to look authoritative and casual at the same time - but standing for a photo, you never know how to hold your arms! For the location, I chose Milton Regis High ...
I went to see Gethsemane by David Hare at the National Theatre last night. Political drama is always hard to get right, and even harder to keep politicos content. Even so, I was particularly disappointed. The basic plot (spoilers) revolves around the teenage daughter of the Home Secretary being gang raped by a group of men at a party, one of which turns out to be a high profile political sketch writer for a major national newspaper. Alienated from her mother the girl acts up, leading to the threat of expulsion from her prestigious public school. Fearing a scandal, the ...
And this week's candidates are: A: Heir to the throne, Prince Charles, who said that high density, poverty stricken Indian slums are a model for environmental living. B: Bishop of London, the Right Reverend Richard Chatres, who thinks that getting sacked is a 'welcome relief.' Maybe I would feel the same if I lived for free in a Grade 1 listed building next to St Paul's Cathedral. C: Coldplay frontman, Chris Martin, who with his wife Gwyneth Paltrow are active supporters of the US 'Act Green' energy conservation campaign despite the fact they think their own home doesn't need any ...
2. C.B. Fry Sometime Liberal candidate for Brighton, Banbury and Oxford, "C.B." was a brilliant scholar and an accomplished performer in every variety of outdoor sport. He captained England at cricket and we lost not a single test match whilst he was at the helm. He played rugger for Blackheath and the Barbarians, and association football for England against Ireland in 1901, as well as playing for Southampton in the F.A. Cup Final. He also set a world long jump record that stood for 21 years. Fry was once offered the throne of Albania, and had he succeeded in convincing ...
I've got man flu, so no long essay this weekend. In my 20 questions for Mars Hill the other day I named my three favourite songs. And this was one of them.
A letter from one of our members, Ed Mason, to the Gair Rhydd: I am surprised to see CCTV being talked about in the same breath as ID Cards. The proposed National Identity Register would include very personal details about yourself. Details that, if lost or stolen, could lead to massive identity fraud. With CCTV, there is no personal information. There's not even, in many cases, any sound. Just image. No chance of identity fraud or misuse. I don't give a damn what the police do with footage of me walking down Queen Street; it's not exactly something with which ...
Firstly, two pyramid selling schemes of the internet kind:If you search the internet a lot, you might as well get paid for it, right? Sign up to MyHomepageFriends burkesworks seal of approval, and if you don't like the search engine, there's nothing to stop you from using all the others you'd normally use anyway. YouGov. I am within PENCE of getting a cheque from them. I know most of you are probably signed up to it anyway, but if you're not? Please sign up using this link so I get a referral fee. Secondly, andrewhickey has suggested taking commissions for ...
A little tale was told to me today about Keith Simpson, Tory MP for Mid Norfolk and an accusation he made against a fellow MP from a different party. In Buxton (Mid Norfolk), there is currently a by-election ongoing, and last weekend Norman Lamb, who is Lib Dem MP for the adjoining North Norfolk constituency dropped by to give the Lib Dem campaign some support. Keith Simpson, who had pulled up in the same car park huffed his way over to Norman Lamb and demanded to know why he had not received a message from Norman informing him that he ...
Lib Dems in Islington aren't the only ones proposing a 0% increase in response to the current financial crisis. Haringey Lib Dems are too. Meanwhile Islington leader James Kempton has launched a petition where people can register their support for a council tax freeze: sign up here.
Looking at promo videos for the upcoming (already showing in the US but hoping it might be upcoming in the UK) new Joss Whedon series DollHouse, it struck me that there was a likeness between the visionary writer and our glorious leader. Well, in profile at least:
West Worcestershire Liberal Democrat campaigner Richard Burt has lodged a petition with the Number 10 website calling for the suspension of the regional housing targets.
One of the quirks about being a kindly Returning Officer is that people talk to you. Sometimes, and I emphasise only sometimes, you wish that they would stop, but most of the time, you get to learn an awful lot about a person and the organisation they're involved in. In the case of Liberal Youth, this hasn't always been impressive. I'll start with the good stuff...They have a good administrator.
"Most of us have mobile phones with names and numbers stored in their memory. If we were to be involved in an accident or were taken ill, the people attending us would have our mobile phone but wouldn't know who to call. Yes, there are hundreds of numbers stored but which one is the contact person in case of an emergency? "Hence this 'ICE' (In Case of Emergency)...
"As intelligent and decent a politician as you'll find in the Commons" says the Guardian of Sir Menzies Campbell. Olympic athlete, legal advocate and then Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ming Campbell has risen to the top of three professions. Now a widely respected senior politician and rumoured candidate as the next Speaker of the Commons, he has written his autobiography....
The debate over the Geert Wilders controversy has put the spotlight on to what extent it is acceptable to cause offence to religious feelings and beliefs. And I wish to amplify why I think it's a very dangerous road to go down to accept restrictions on freedom based on offence to religious sensibilities as opposed to incitement to hatred. Let's indulge in a few thought experiments. Suppose I were to write the following sentence: "Jesus sodding Christ! That fat bastard Buddha ripped the turban from a Sikh's head to slaughter the sacred cow, in order to celebrate the gay wedding ...
Well look what happens; you go away for a few weeks (let's just not talk about it) and you come back and the whole political universe seems to have changed. Maybe not quite but the first item that caught my attention was the two polls showing good Liberal Democrat support and Anthony Wells's report on it at UK Polling Report. Significantly, the poll advances are at the expense of Labour which vindicates the view that a) the Labour vote is the vote in motion and b) targeting that vote is the way forward to polling advance. Wells concerns himself with ...
Have just worked out a household budget. Even if we cut EVERYTHING, and I mean EVERYTHING* down to the bone, we will have £100 a month for food, drink and entertainment for three humans and two dogs. Which is not really enough. This leads me to ask a favour. If you are someone who runs into me in meatspace, and you see me about to spend money, stop me. Ask me to justify it. It might be that I have done unusually well in tips at work and can afford to spend a little, but it is more likely that ...
Courtesy of David Cameron this week, we now know there are two types of city financier. The first, epitomised by Sir James Crosby, is the sort of shyster that only a Prime Minister with a serious lack of judgement would dream of putting in a senior role. The second, epitomised by Sir David Freud, is "a hugely impressive figure" worthy of an insta-peerage (this is the new type of peerage introduced in 2006 where party leaders get to magically give people a lifetime seat in the legislature for doing something Important - such as accepting a job or defecting. If ...
I've finally had a chance to catch up with what's going on in the local bloggosphere - what with enrolling at uni again and a by-election being called I've been rather busy. Anyway, this afternoon I read through MEN journalist David Ottewell's blog and came across a link to a Guardian article written by George [...]
I was just listening to this week's Any Questions (in the bath, on my iPhone, via iPlayer - ooh, get me!) and I was particularly unimpressed with Denis MacShane's response to a question about the recession. He seemed to be saying that nobody predicted it, everyone thought the way we were going was right and asked Janet Street Porter for examples of newspaper editorials and comment pieces that forewarned what was going to happen. Now aside from the fact that there were all sorts of warnings years ago (not least from Vince Cable who has been banging on about this ...
The arguments over bail-outs and bonuses for the banks continue. As politicians and regulators continue to comment and argue about all this it is possible to see a pattern emerging. We are getting some idea of the new regulatory framework that will be in place. There appear to be three components: Banks will be treated like utilitiesBank risk will be assessed by the regulator and capitalisation rules will depend on the risk statusUK regulation will be based on information gathered by regulatory staff - hence the plan by the FSA to employ a lot more risk assessorsWhat we still don't ...
I've just spent the morning leafletting in Cadder. It's for a really good cause (the Save our Schools campaign - Labour want to close a bunch of schools around the city when they're theoretically trying to bring class sizes down) but it hasn't been a great day for it. Humid but not warm, so there's [...]
Conventional wisdom has it that Gordon Brown will not go to the polls this year. For a good while no one thought he would, then thought he might, then thought he almost certainly would, now they think he won't. I have been humbly arguing since 2008 that he may well consider it and that there were good reasons for going to the country in June 2009. Of course, Labour is now struggling in the polls. Calling an election in the middle of such economic uncertainty could send a message to the voters that the Labour party is more concerned with ...
With two polls putting the Liberal Democrats at 22% over the past couple of days, does Nick Clegg know what to do with himself. Nick has brought up the Lib Dem opinion poll result to the level that was achieved by Charles Kennedy, someone who was the success behind the Lib Dems at the last general election. As we go into a general election if Nick Clegg can pull off what he has in the last two opinion polls then the Lib Dems are on their way to becoming serious competition to the Tories and Labour. Nick is a charming ...
You're a surgeon, faced with two patients in need of liver transplants, and you have one liver that's a match for both. Both need the liver equally badly, but one patient is an alcoholic and, whatever she says, you know she's unlikely to stay off the booze for long. Who gets the liver? Or perhaps you just have one patient, who's an alcoholic. Do you you give them the liver, or do you save it in the hope that one of the other 300+ people on the list will be matched in time? Maybe you transplant the liver into the ...
I've finally done it, I've joined the gym.So, will I be swimming at 6.30am tomorrow? Time will tell, but that's my aim.I need to lose weight, I'm never going to be a gym bunny but I can with a bit of will power and getting motivated and off my backside at least lose a couple of stone.I have every excuse in the book for why I don't do it and that's not good enough any more, I'm 41 and fat and its time to fight back and today is the start! ------------------
Worried about crime in your area? Well, you can now access crime maps for the Met Police recorded crime figures for your area online. Simply enter your postcode and you get an instant report: I tried my current postcode in a corner of St Peter's ward where we've had real problems of street disorder over [...]
Another issue that came up at Monday's Full Council was Jacksons Lane. The arts centre in Highgate has been vulnerable to losing Arts Council funding, due to the Council's lack of support. My Lib Dem colleagues in Highgate, Cllr Neil Williams, Cllr Bob Hare and Cllr Rachel Allison, have been engaged in a long-running campaign with Lynne Featherstone MP to help secure the centre's future. On Monday the Labour Cabinet Member responsible told us that Haringey is now going to provide some money - and his u-turn is welcome. But he extraordinarily claimed that he didn't understand the fuss and ...
Just a short postscript to last Monday's council meeting, where Haringey Lib Dems proposed freezing council tax. Haringey Labour rejected the proposal, choosing instead to push the borough's already extortionate council tax rates even higher. They even said that we were only proposing a freeze as we are in opposition and that if we were in control now we wouldn't freeze it. Rubbish - we had costed our alternative budget proposals and told the Full Council meeting how a council tax freeze could be achieved, without any frontline services being cut. Just one of the savings we proposed was to ...
In this morning's Wales on Sunday, columnist David James writes about First Minister, Rhodri Morgan's intervention in the row over a new Welsh medium school in his constituency and claims by a Cardiff Labour Councillor that the proposals amount to 'ethnic cleansing':Rhodri has found himself lambasted for addressing a racially-sensitive point about a school in his constituency.That is dodgy ground
With a bi-election coming in a local LibDem/Tory marginal ward, I wish the Calderdale Lib Dems good luck in trying to win this one. You're going to need it. In this ward you'll find not just one of HBOS's head office buildings, but many of the more affluent and senior members of staff who work in the Halifax area make their homes there, too. So Vince Cable blasting Lloyds for paying out bonuses is going to go down really well let me tell you. Nice to see Lib Dems experimenting with a bit of tyranny of the majority from the ...
When Alex Salmond and Gordon Brown meet for talks this week, for the first time for ten months, the funding of the new Forth Crossing must be high on the agenda. It's all gone very quiet since the First Minister begged Westminster to bail them out following the failure of their Scottish Futures Trust to raise any funds for the bridge. This is a major transport artery for Scotland and we, especially the business community, need certainty about its future. We need answers - quickly.
The known by three names Conservative candidate for Brierfield and Nelson North, Abdullah Zaid has sent out a leaflet that is very interesting in the way he has written it. He writes about the Tory party policies he supports and among them we do see that he supports dissolving of power to local authorities. As far as I know about the Tories when it comes to devolution their case is that they will give every town a Town Council and then cut back on County and Borough Council's, eventually ending the Council he will get elected too. Secondly he has ...
So - interesting. Just listening to one of the new reports saying that due to people taking their kids out of private school, secondary schools are experiencing an influx. Only last Friday I asked our senior education officer at Haringey what preparations they were making in case this happened. He said that there was some capacity - and that the new school being built in Haringey Heartlands would also come on stream in due course. But there is a birthrate increase of great proportion coming along too - so although the first pressures from that will be on primary schools ...
Yesterday's South Wales Echo reports that there is a shortage of junior doctors in the Welsh Health Service was no great surprise, however the results of a survey of English doctors as to why they do not wish to move to Wales did reveal some attitudes that need to be countered:And they have discovered a staggering array of reasons given by young doctors about why they do not want to come to
Update on the dreadful threat from First Capital Connect to cut the hours that ticket offices are open at Hornsey, Alexandra, Bowes Park and Harringay stations (amongst others). Haringey's stations in total, if First Capital's plans were to go forward, would see a reduction of 112 hours. So many of you (and thank you) made representations to TravelWatch and Passenger Focus that Travelwatch (representing both these travel watchdogs) has now sent formal objections to First Capital Connect. Hornsey station was one of the ones that received the largest amount of objections out of the 49 stations that First Capital Connect ...
There's a certain amount of angst in the property world over the plans for the Olympic legacy. The legacy vehicle - charged with securing new homes, jobs and opportunities once the Games are over - has been unveiled. Unlike previous agencies, such as the Docklands Development Corporation, the Olympic legacy body won't have its own planning [...]
{Potholes} The snow was very enjoyable, but it did terrible things to our roads and pavements. Now, when the pavements have finally defrosted, we can see the damage to the road surface. Snow, then water, gets into cracks in the road surface and freezes. In freezing, it expands, forcing the crack apart. Thus Bathwick Hill has ten new deep potholes all the way from Copseland to the canal. I spent yesterday afternoon on my bike photographing them and now I've sent a report to BathNES highways department.
The Government continues to (micro)chip away with its incremental plan to introduce ID cards to all. The Home Office has formally applied to widen the scope of ID cards for foreign nationals granted further leave to remain in the UK. Regulations laid before Parliament last week mean that six more categories of applicant would have to provide their biometrics (fingerprints and photo) from 31 March 2009: • Academic visitors granted leave for a period exceeding six months • Visitors for private medical treatment • Domestic workers in a private household • United Kingdom ancestry (Covers people who are Commonwealth citizens, ...
Take a manifesto with 2 main flagship policies: a referendum on independence, and ditching the unfair Council Tax. The first is wanted by nobody other than nationalists and Greens, the other had a realistic chance of becoming law. Which do the Nats sacrifice? The one which actually could help people and rid them of the burden of a deeply unjust tax. They still, as far as we know, intend to press ahead with their referendum on independence, which has even less support in the Parliament. Why allocate the Parliamentary time to something that's destined to fail when they could build ...
By God, that quote must be coming back to haunt him by now.
Another piece of significant reporting today is that linked about SBS. Basically they looked at 55 babies who died in hospital from symptoms equivalent to SBS.What this demonstrated (which was already known for Glutaric Aciduria) is that there are natural circumstances under which the SBS triad occur and that without other evidence (eg bruises) that the SBS triad of bleeding in the brain and
Today's Independent on Sunday reports: A Labour peer caught up in the "lords-for-hire" affair asked a government minister to arrange a meeting with his client, after her department rejected its controversial plans for a £400m gas storage plant. Lord Taylor of Blackburn approached Baroness Andrews in October 2007 to ask if the American firm Canatxx could meet the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG), following the rejection of the plans for an underground facility in Fleetwood, Lancashire. Less than two months later, Canatxx representatives met DCLG "policy officials" to discuss government policy on gas storage facilities. The firm has ...
The credit crisis is continuing to descend into a prolonged depression. Ireland now faces a crisis that is so severe that it is now facing the real possibility that it cannot finance its own debts without major assistance from the rest of the European Union. Meanwhile in the UK, the nearly 40% devaluation of Sterling may cushion some of the blow, but the implosion of such a huge part of the financial sector in an economy dominated by financial services has clearly been a body blow to the future prosperity of Britain. In the face of the escalating collapse, the ...
It's Sunday, so finally I respond to this meme thing. 1. I'm 5 foot 10(ish) which makes me feel like a hulking monster most of the time, and has led to me being asked if I'd ever consider becoming a professional dominatrix. 2. I was born in the year of punk. Sid Vicious once changed my nappy when my mum took baby-me backstage at a Sex Pistols gig. 3. When someone tries to take the piss out of my age they fail. I do not have a problem with being in my thirties. I make a mental note that the ...
A six-strong British parliamentary delegation led by Richard Burden MP was waiting at the Erez checkpoint in Israel this morning for permission to cross into the Gaza Strip, on a fact-finding mission to assess the humanitarian situation there. The Liberal Democrats' Shadow Foreign Secretary, Ed Davey, is in the group, as is his London colleague Sarah [...]
Please excuse me if I am repeating myself or going over old ground in this post but sometimes an area of public policy reappears like the proverbial bad penny, that is so pernicious, illiberal and nonsensical that it warrants dredging up some old posts, shaking the dust off still perfectly valid arguments and throwing them full force in the direction of those propagating the nonsense I and many others have objected to and continue to oppose. Thus were my feelings when I read this article in today's Observer that refers to a consultation to a a small water fluoridation scheme ...
Like many people, including Nick Clegg and Kirsty Williams, I've been tagged to respond to this meme. So, here goes... My maiden name is Leadbeater As a child I lived in Cyprus, Singapore and Germany I have an extra pair of floating ribs My cottage in Suffolk is 500 years old I am a member of Brian Eno's singing group The first record I ever bought was "Blackberry Way" by the Move The first event I ever attended as a councillor was the opening of a bore-hole - the excitement was almost too much. My first date with Mark was ...
I don't agree with Geert Wilders critique of Islam. It's emotive and unbalanced and paints a picture of the religion that is unrecognisable to most of its followers. However objectionable and unhelpful I might find his view and his film, I have to say that I was shocked by Chris Huhne's support of the Government's decision to refuse him entry to the UK last week. My innermost instincts are to protect freedom of speech. When I first came across Labour's No Platform policy in the 1980s, it made me feel queasy. On the face of it it sounds fair enough ...
Unemployment is soaring, job centres are having trouble coping. People used to feeling that they're doing something useful and providing for their families are cast adrift. Unemployment is about more than loss of income. Particularly for the long-term unemployed and those on incapacity benefit, it's about a loss of self-worth, of not feeling useful. Stay like that for long enough and I'm not contributing becomes I can't contribute. We can't magically create lots of new jobs, but for some people we can offer a way to give something, make a difference, and add new skills to their CV. I'm talking ...
Back in the early 80s, when you weren't talking about Charles and Diana, you were talking about Torvill and Dean. Unless of course you were way too cool, hip and trendy to talk about either. I still remember the excitement of waiting for them to unveil their routine for the next year's competitions. At the end of 1983, I just totally refused they could ever top the daring, inventive and fast paced Barnum on Ice and wondered if they had peaked too soon, ahead of the vital 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. I remember feeling quite shocked by Bolero when ...
Mark tells me that this is all the rage, so here goes...My middle names are Serena Isabella Caterina Grimnar - when your family has links to most other royal families, you tend to want to keep in with them...In 1957, I won the European Under-18 whitewater rafting championship, aged 8.My first pet was a marine iguana. I called him Iggy.When Ludwig and I awarded Mark the Knight Cross of Amaranth
The first story (link in Sunday Mirror) is about an SBS case. This is one much like the Webster case in that there is a range of claims of medical evidence, but at the start as usual a second opinion was not allowed. One key aspect of this case, however, is that the child who suffered the injury (that I believe having read his medical file was not caused by any of the parents) remains in the care
A rather more technical post than usual, but if you are used to playing around with HTML tags or fiddling with the innards of systems such as WordPress, this post has some good news that could make your website perform better in search engines... The multiple URLs problem It is quite common for a page on a website to be accessible via more than one web address. For example: and (i.e. without ;show at the end) both link to the same page. There are two reasons this might be a problem. First, a search engine may fail to ...
I've been meaning to get a pic of this for ages. This was part of council 'improvement' works for what's known as the Peace Park, at the junction of Archway Road and Muswell Hill Road. There's no accounting for taste, but for me, it's all gone horribly wrong. Error has piled upon error, to produce this dreadful affront to these two innocent lime trees. We've asked for the stones and concrete to be removed. They will drop off anyway, as trees move. ...
