I was most surprised and indeed very pleased that the select committee looking into older people's issues today were interested in the photos of the older people's "play equipment" that I wrote about on Friday, and moves were being made to raise the issue elsewhere. Hopefully it was worth spending a bit of time on holiday doing some research - and it was fun anyway! The meeting was...
Chris has received concerns about safety in tenement stairwells where communal lights have failed. He has raised these concerns - do let Chris know if you have experienced similar problems - contact him at focus@maryfield.net Many thanks!
I have been very pleased to note the obvious affection in which the Winchelsea Post Office is held by many of its customers. As I recall, a few weeks ago, a concerned Winchelsea resident even wrote to the Rye Observer encouraging all those who were fed up with the shenanigans at the Rye Post Office to [...]
If you are looking for some free software so that you can use your xbox controller as a mouse in windows, you could do worse than ControlMK. It is a bit fiddly, but it's free and it does the job. Saved me from the agony of the dodgy trackball on my cheapo wireless keyboard. I'm mostly writing this post to give the guy a better search ranking, because when I was looking myself I came across a bunch of apps that wanted to charge money for the privilege of doing this fairly simple task - in fact, I was pretty ...
This week has been a most frustrating week for me politically. And surprisingly (or unsurprisingly?) my frustration is not with national government! Hubby has recently become politically active. I suspect that this is partly inspired by my Dad, who became a local councillor last year, but mostly inspired by his ongoing crusade to address the shocking condition of Salford's local roads. {One of Salford's many potholes} To provide a little background, anyone who lives outside of Salford and has cause to regularly travel into our area will be able to identify the border based solely on the condition of the ...
Following the decision of the East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust in November 2008 not to take up a Liberal Democrat recommendation for a two hour free period of parking in the pay as you leave scheme to go live this year, Lib Dems in Hastings and Eastbourne have joined forces, and are seeking the support [...]
The Scotsman reports Paddy Ashdown's comments on the Liberal Democrats and a referendum on Scottish Independence. You will recall that in the aftermath of the last Holyrood elections the Liberal Democrats refused to countenance joining an SNP-led administration because the Nats were committed to holding a referendum on Scottish independence. Paddy's words are reported thus: Lord Ashdown told The Scotsman that he believes his own party has got its tactics wrong in Scotland in dealing with the Nationalists. And he said that Wendy Alexander was on the right lines when she challenged First Minister Alex Salmond to "bring it on" ...
Inspired by Lord Bonkers, Hywel Morgan (on Lib Dem Voice) has selected a team who "represent the finest liberal traditions in the finest sport".
Hot on the heels of our exciting post highlighting the presence of Howard Dean comes this fascinating missive: Hi, libdemvoice (libdemvoice). Fake Howard Dean (FakeHowardDean) is now following your updates on Twitter. Check out Fake Howard Dean's profile here: http://twitter.com/FakeHowardDean You may follow Fake Howard Dean as well by clicking on the "follow" button. Best, Twitter Clicking the link we're exhorted to follow finds a persona perhaps without the charm of its earlier forebear FakeSarahPalin, but possibly still amusing to our mature audience: It's time to start acting like Democrats again. Cry Havoc and let slip the dogs of war, ...
I blogged before about how I'd become co-owner of a plot of land at Sipson village. Sipson is the community that will be flattened if the Government implements its plans to expand Heathrow airport. And our field of dreams works on the principle that if we come together, they can't build it. Now the Airplot campaign [...]
It was shocking to read today on Salford Council's own website, that £86m worth of unclaimed benefits is sat in the Council's coffers. Apparently £46m in means-tested benefits and around £40m worth of disability benefits has not been claimed by Salford residents. Elderly people are currently missing out on £10m of the unclaimed benefits. It's clear that the system must be too complex - with many people not knowing what (if anything) they can claim. I would call on Salford Council, as well as others around the UK to make it easier to claim the benefits that are rightly due. ...
Here's my latest piece for the Highgate Handbook & Muswell Hill Flyer magazines: And it came to be! We all said that if our precious sub-Post Offices closed, the displaced users would have to go to other post offices and queues would lengthen. Even outside of the Christmas pressures - queues have been out the door at the remaining Post Offices. To move it from anecdotal to actual, in the autumn I launched a Post Office survey where I asked local residents to count their waiting times. I have now put together the numbers and they show what we all ...
Tue 17th
21:50
Duwayne Brooks: "The smart young man with a clipboard in one hand and Liberal Democrat leaflets in t...
Last month, LDV brought you the news that Duwayne Brooks, one of the best friends of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, will be fighting a council by-election for Lewisham Lib Dems on 19th February. Today's Times carries a feature article about Duwayne: Ten years ago Duwayne Brooks was known mainly for being the best friend of Stephen Lawrence. As a witness to the murderous attack on his friend, he found himself on a collision course with the police, the courts and even the Lawrence family. Now he is seeking a title that is decidedly more establishment-friendly: councillor. This month marks not ...
When hopefully there will be some bits of my head that don't hurt. In the meantime, I'd just like to say thanks to those of you who said such nice things about the proposal below (especially Hayden Childs, whose book on Richard & Linda Thompson's Shoot Out The Lights is one of the best things [...]
I have signed up to Twitter. So you can follow me on Twitter too. Some of my friends will no doubt tell you I have been (t)wittering for years....
Conservative London Assembly Member James Cleverly has (not so cleverly) shown a lack of homework in his blog post discussing Boris Johnson's intention to suspend the third phase of the Low Emission Zone: Boris has taken the right decision to hold off with LEZ phase three. Its effectiveness is not known... He said that there is "no evidence" that the Low Emission Zone improves air quality. That's not what Boris said in a press statement on February 2nd: Although the Low Emission Zone has been successful in tackling the worst polluters, and will continue to play an important role, it ...
... Feel like I've been taking my life in my hands today. The roads round here are covered with a slick layer of mud, making driving my car a little bit too much fun, if I'm honest. See, a mild 'fish tail' is alarming, and a little embarrasing. Accidentally power sliding out of junctions is... Well it's just yobbish, really, but what can you do? By the time you realize the back's broken out you have to... Well... Kinda put your foot down a bit, to straighten up neatly, assuming your front wheels are pointing in the right direction. You ...
Extraordinary Council Meeting For the first time in 32 years Sutton Council met to grant the Freedom of the Borough to a resident who had earned special distinction. This honour was to be bestowed on David Weir the Beijing Paralympic champion. As well as achieving an armful of medals Davis has been a regular ambassador [...]
South Gloucestershire Council is helping volunteer groups and parish councils to spring into action and clean up their neighbourhood or open spaces, helping to transform South Gloucestershire as part of National Spring Clean 2009. The Council is running the South Gloucestershire Big Spring Clean Campaign 2009 which runs from 1st April - 30th April and is encouraging everyone to join in. Friends, families, neighbours, Parish Councils, community and voluntary groups, church groups, schools and students, youth clubs, scouts and cadets, brownies and guides, and businesses are all invited to take action against litter! Many groups already take part in voluntary ...
Full Council - Tory tantrums and a ticking off The main items of business were a motion from the Conservatives: 'Voice for Business'; the SEN revised transport policy as requisitioned by the Opposition for consideration by full council; and the Communications Service Contract also dedelegated by the Opposition. First item to be debated was the SEN Transport [...]
I was interested to read in the Yorkshire Post last week that a Lancashire woman was able to use a new law to save her from a forced marriage. The law was brought in as a result of a campaign by Keighley MP Ann Cryer. Well done to Ann for her work to protect women.
Lord Bonkers' attempts (published courtesy of Jonathan Calder's Liberal England blog) at listing his favourite XI cricketers inspired me to have a slightly more serious crack at coming up with a XI who represent the finest liberal traditions in the finest sport: Mike Brearley (Captain) Maybe not the first person from within the game to back the campaign against the 1970 South African tour but certainly the first to do so prominently at a time when it could have had a detrimental effect on his career in the game. In 1968 he proposed a motion to the MCC calling for ...
Some good reasons why the planned Heathrow expansion is not a good idea...... LibDig This!
With the credit crunch biting, everyone's getting a bit anxious about job security, no one more so than Gordon Brown. There is speculation that he is being lined for a top job at the IMF. My google search threw up a new initiative with Harriet Harman, using all their experience of cabinet making. Take a look for yourself: www.brownandharman.co.uk
The Scotsman reports on the intervention of former Lib Dem leader, Lord (Paddy) Ashdown: THE Unionist parties in Scotland should back a referendum on independence to finish off the SNP as a political force once and for all, former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown has claimed. Lord Ashdown told The Scotsman that he believes his own party has got its tactics wrong in Scotland in dealing with the Nationalists. And he said that Wendy Alexander was on the right lines when she challenged First Minister Alex Salmond to "bring it on" and hold a referendum on independence. ... The former ...
From the Leicester Mercury: A couple are thrilled to have back their cat, which disappeared almost a year ago. Felix, a three-year-old tom, went missing from his home in Church Langton, near Market Harborough, in March.Owners David and Kareen Hubbard posted pictures of him around the village in an attempt to find him, but without success.They had given up hope of seeing him again until they got a call from a vet last week.The cat had found a temporary home in Great Bowden, less than four miles.
Our oldest son goes to university. Our second son is about to. So we deal with the student finance system. I have just received a very silly letter to tell me that "Student Finance Direct" is changing its name to "Student Finance England". It says "This letter is for your information only. You do not have to do anything and the changes do not affect any of the on line services you, or the student(s) you support, currently use." So why are they wasting money, colour printed paper, and an envelope to write to me about it? Good to know ...
Over at the The Times, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg suggests the recession is an opportunity to shake off our preconceptions about men's and women's roles. Here's an excerpt: As this recession bears down on thousands of communities and families we must again be open to reinventing ourselves. Many men will be forced to let go of their earlier identities and try something new - like the unemployed car worker in the West Midlands who explained on Newsnight last week that he was retraining to become a social worker. And many women may become the only family breadwinner for the ...
I have been very excited about plans for the regeneration of the Lower Irwell Valley these last few months. The area is home to Drinkwater Park, Phillips Park, Clifton Country Park, and Prestwich Clough. Bits of it are about to come under the control of the Forestry Commission, who have plans to invest nearly £4m in improvements to Waterdale and the former bleach works. I attended a consultation event back in the autumn with lots of other local people, and the plans really are exciting. Lots of pathways and woodland areas will be improved, and some of the old industrial ...
In recent months the English cricket authorities seem to have been planning the future of the game around the largesse of Sir Allen Stanford. This always looked an undignified policy and with this news from the BBC: Texan billionaire and cricket promoter Sir Allen Stanford has been charged over a $8bn (£5.6bn) investment fraud, US financial regulators say.The Securities and Exchange Commission said the financier had orchestrated "a fraudulent, multi-billion dollar investment scheme".The SEC said the fraud was "based on false promises and fabricated historical return data".it looks downright stupid - the cricketing equivalent of HBOS's investment policies. Respect to ...
I know I am guilty of making Shropshire sound like a neverland of real ale and morris dancers, but in reality it has its share of desperate criminals too. From the Shropshire Star: An 18-year-old man escaped from Shrewsbury police station - by walking out of an unlocked door. But we can all sleep safely in our beds. He was recaptured.
Avid readers of the blog will have noticed a certain something missing these past few days, namely postings of any description. And I admire these observations, because they are spot on. I've been on holiday for a few days, taking in some walking in the North Pennines, along Hadrian's Wall. I shudder to think what kind of planning obstacles he would come up against were he to try and build it today... For one thing the insulation in those stones really isn't up to scratch. It was Valentine's weekend of course, and I thought I would seize the opportunity to ...
I really don't understand this obsession with having directly-elected mayors for big cities. Labour have been trying to persuade big cities to have a referendum on them for years, and when they failed to do that they mulled over the idea of forcing them to have referenda. Despite the fact that the majority of referenda [...]
A drain by the shop in Vicarage Road that was blocked up by mud and other debris (see photo taken in November 2008) has been cleaned out following a complaint by Morriston Lib Dem Jon Clarke. The mud was causing the pooling of water, with further water running across the pavement and down Cwmbath Road. If you have any issues within Morriston that you are concerned about, then feel free to contact us, your local Lib Dem team, at morriston@swanseagowerlibdems.org.uk, or write to us at 28 Vicarage Road, Morriston, Swansea. SA6 6DH.
I obviously have a thing for throwing money at fools who do crazy things - remember Team Hopelessness, anybody? Anyway, I have just sponsored the idiots who are off to climb Mount Kilimanjaro with the aim of raising at least £1 million for Comic Relief. I have been following the preparations of @fearnecotton and @chrisdjmoyles on Twitter for some time and they are not for the faint hearted. The climbers, also including Girls Aloud's Kimberley Walsh and Cheryl Cole, former boy band rivals Gary Barlow, Ronan Keating, West End Star Denise Van Outen, GMTV's Ben Shephard and the fantastic Alesha ...
Cornwall County Council, in its last budget before the new Unitary Authority is established, has managed to set a Council tax rate that will mean a real terms cut for most people. They deserve to be congratulated for this achievement whilst protecting all front-line services. The headline Council Tax rate will see a rise of 2.6% on average - well below the 3% inflation rate announced today - and that means that most people will see a cut in real terms. When you compare the figure with other councils around the country - of all political persuasions - you find ...
At the end of January the Snuff Mills Action Group organised a walk through Grove Wood. About 150 or so local residents turned up to walk the footpaths, as part of the campaign to save the wood. I was with a group that used the public right of way that goes alongside the river (well mostly). Its many years since I've walked this far along the path, and it was a good opportunity to see just why Grove Wood is so important to the local environment. Further details of the campaign can be found here: http://snuffmills.blogspot.com/
I've had limited computer access for a few days, which is why this blog has been quiet. but I'm hoping to change that over the next couple of days...watch this space.
This is one of the better bits of street art (graffiti?)around. This is clearly a genre - Banksy and others now - or perhaps more of an industry... This pic is captured in England's Lane, Belsize Park and I think it's very funny. Note the CND badge which has become incredibly iconic over a relatively short period of time. Amazing where that crops up in pictures and badges and now - in graffiti.
Test Valley's Liberal Democrat group led by Smannell TVBC Councillor Len Gates pictured left are proposing amendments to the Borough Council's 2009-2010 budget designed to reduce costs and soften the impact of the credit crunch on local taxpayers. A number of measures are being considered and these will be tabled at the council's budget meeting on 23 February. Among the proposals are:- The deferral of increases in council fees and charges for one year. A reduction in the number of Council Cabinet members Savings in the cost of council meetings in line with savings elsewhere in the council A review ...
Welcome home to the GB team who have been competing in the Special Olympics Winter Games in Idaho. Local interest was provided by Jonathan Frett (in the picture), who was awarded 5th place for skiing. Overall the team achieved 2 gold, 7 silver and 4 bronze. Congratulations all round!! Full details here. The Special Olympics are for athletes...
{Governor Howard Dean} Governor Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009, will be the guest speaker at the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference in Harrogate, 6-8 March 2009. Howard Dean was a frontrunner for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2004 when he spoke out against the Iraq war. Howard set up Democracy for America which focuses on grassroots fundraising and training for local members. As chairman of the Democrats Howard set up and executed the 50 State Strategy which targeted voters across the US, rather than concentrating on "swing" states. This became a vital part of ...
On Sunday, my gf finally forced me to sit down and fill in my pension form. For various reasons which I won't go into, it has taken me a long time to do this and take advantage of my (teeny tiny) employer contribution. Imagine my dismay therefore when I discover that no sooner have I put the form on the finance officer's desk, that I get a twitter message announcing my own Treasury spokesman is demanding me to pay it back! Vince Cable: Sir James Graham has a "moral obligation" to repay some of his £10m pension pot Now, it ...
Test Valley''s Liberal Democrat group are proposing amendments to the Borough Council's 2009-2010 budget designed to reduce costs and soften the impact of the credit crunch on local taxpayers. A number of measures are being considered and these will be tabled at the council's budget meeting on 23 February. Among the proposals are:- The deferral of increases in council fees and charges for one year. A reduction in the number of Council Cabinet members. Savings in the cost of council meetings in line with savings elsewhere in the council. A review of the number and cost of Councillors in the ...
Want to cut youth crime? You could do worse than getting coppers back doing school crossings, getting to know the kids, and be trusted by them, from the age of five or six (the kids, not the coppers, though thet do seem to get younger every year). That's why PCSOs are good. It doesn't really matter that they don't have the full powers of police officers. It does matter that they're on bikes or on foot, talking to people and working in communities. Labour's approach for the last decade has, in practice, worked against this. Central control. Targets to be ...
The Financial Times reports that bankers who lost their jobs in the credit crunch are to be offered work in the Treasury as Alistair Darling beefs up his department to try to keep pace with the financial crisis. You could not make it up.
David Cameron breezed into Barry yesterday and announced that he was bored with the debate on more powers for the Assembly. Well, yes it is dragging on a bit. However, that is not what the Tory leader meant. He was actually trying to avoid talking about the obvious splits that still dog his party on this issue. It seems that Mr. Cameron himself has lined up behind the South East Wales Tories who have opposed the Assembly and the devolution agenda from the start. When he was asked if a full law-making Parliament would bring more prosperity to Wales, he ...
A rumour has reached me of a little mishap at this morning's launch of the Labour Party's European election candidates in Newport. I am told Rhodri Morgan arrived late and then missed the speeches as he cut his lip on a bread roll. Could happen to anybody I suppose.
The news that the annual cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan increased by more than 50% this year to £4.5billion has put even more pressure on an already stretched defence budget. Belated investment in acceptable accommodation for troops and their families, the procurement of expensive new weapons systems and equipment projects - including aircraft carriers, destroyers, submarines and fast jets - combined with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, have put the budget under severe strain. Despite all the money being spent, British troops are still chronically overstretched and lack vital equipment such as helicopters. (more...)
What is the matter with Chris Huhne? On the great freedom-of-speech versus right-to-offend argument, he has always struck just about the right note - for instance, on Holocaust denial and the Danish Cartoons. But now his judgement appears to have deserted him when last week he backed the decision of the British government to exclude a Dutch politician for the unforgivable crime of saying something nasty about Islam. Coming on the twentieth anniversary of the fatwa against Salman Rushdie, the timing could hardly be worse. There's really nothing quite like a religious question to upend our political and moral intuitions ...
Remember how Facebook owns all the stuff you post on the site? The Terms and Conditions say that by posting user content to any part of the site, you grant the company the right to use, copy, publicly display and distribute user content. Until this month you could at least recover ownership by removing things you posted. Once you delete those photos from Facebook, they no longer had the right to use, copy and distribute them. That changed on 4th February when the sentences 'you may remove your user content from the site at any time. If you choose to ...
{boson.jpg} Geek bus advert
Recently I have been exchanging tweets with someone from Blackburn's Labour party who has been asking about blogs in Lancashire and I have pointed him towards the blog of Tory Blogger Paul McKenna and Lib Dem Blogger Darren Reynolds. In one of the tweets the person who is unknown to me but from Blackburn Labour asked me to use a tweet from Alastair Campbell about my blog as an endorsement. If I was to use it as an endorsement which I am then it would go as followed: "An interesting combination of orange, yellow and beige. And some words" I ...
One of the upsides of being out of Westminster this week is the chance to get out and about visiting local businesses. Yesterday I went to Bath to see a green energy company - blue-NG - who are on the brink of making a major contribution to Britain's renewable energy needs. The basic idea revolves around the fact that the 'mains' gas network around the UK (and in other similar countries) is run at high pressure but has to be stepped down to lower pressure to be useable. The network has large numbers of 'pressure reduction stations' and at each ...
St Albans rail commuters endured yet another wretched Monday morning journey to work yesterday morning as overhead wire problems stopped trains running through London. It beggars belief that rail subsidies are now five times higher than they were pre-privatisation. There's not even the excuse of snow. Last week I attended a roundtable discussion with Bill Emery, Chief Executive of the Office of Rail Regulation, the man in charge of regulating Britain's railways. It was very illuminating.I asked him what power he had to stop First Capital Connect from price-gouging St Albans commuters given that the annual season price had gone ...
One thing I hate about elections is the effect that they have upon the internet and the bloggosphere in general. During elections the amount of online coversation grows - although the actual level of content often decreases because bloggers are out leafleting. What I have noticed though, is that the bloggosphere becomes increasingly tedious as [...]
I do wish the BBC would get a sense of perspective sometimes and be a bit more responsible about how it reports things. They are running this story about a potentially serious condition that can rarely affect breastfed babies who don't take in enough milk in the first few days of life. They could easily have chosen a less scare-mongering headline than "Breastfed Baby Risk Investigated" which is bound to strike fear into the hearts of anxious new parents or parents to be. It goes without saying that there are going to be problems if a baby doesn't get enough ...
The Leader of the Liberal Democrats in local government, Cllr Richard Kemp has welcomed the direction of the Tory proposals for local government, but has cited four major concerns. "This is a wholesale repudiation of the Thatcher and Major governments which stripped councils of their power and finance and made them into puppets of central government, but the plans lack substance in four areas 1. They do nothing to correct the imbalance between central and local funding. Whilst central government supplies up to 80% of the money spent by local government they will continue to call the tune asserting national ...
The link is to a story about a pregnant mother who has been driven to suicide (last week) by her local Childrens Services. I wrote to the government about the prevention of inhumane treatment of pregnant women and the application of Article 3. Their response in essence was that Article 3 was not relevant to care proceedings.Teresa's blog posting about this contains a screen scrape of her suicide
Labour Blogger Alex Hilton who you can see to the left with David Cameron is going through some trouble with his fellow Labour "comrades", according to a blog post that he has written over at Labour Home. Someone who can influence Labour's higher Archie is threatening to destroy the reputation of the elf if he doesn't stop all contact with the business Message Space. Message Space is a company that he has a share in and other share holders include Paul Staines the right wing blogger who is one of the reasons behind the attack on Alex. The person threatening ...
Instantly I expect people to assume I have my facts wrong when I use the word "president" instead of mayor, but let's be clear, the proposal that the Tories have pushed whereby large cities in England would have directly elected mayors with presidential powers which allow them to make councillors almost totally redundant is the last thing that local democracy needs. It is hard to name an area where having a directly elected mayor has lowered costs or led to a resurgence of interest in local democracy. Do the people of Hartlepool feel better off for having a directly elected ...
Tuesday: More BLACK MAGIC from Ms Caroline Spell-person, Conservatory spokesperson for turning local councillors into eunuchs, with her plan to "give more power to local government" by, er, taking their powers away and giving them to mayors. This promises to do the OPPOSITE of what it says on the tin. The proposal to increase accountability will actually DILUTE it; the promise to return power to people will really move power IN to a new centre that is less representative and more remote; the plan to free local government from central government control will, in reality, SHACKLE local councils even further. ...
What an absolute delight to learn that David Cameron is offering referendums on elected Mayors for cities and council tax changes!Well done Cameron! What a superb new world we can look forward to when that glorious day arrives and DC sweeps into Downing Street!Hallejujah!What ever next?!Will he be promising general elections at least every five years? And the possibility of changing your council
I say "No shinola sherlock"
So Dave's party has finally got a big idea: more Borises in major cities around the country, inclouding Newcastle and Bradford. Well, permission to shout 'hurrah' in a very loud and annoying voice! After all, Boris is busy screwing London with his peculiar brand of populist, do nothing nonsense. Why should other cities, especially those in the north where the Tories are sooo popular, be exempt from having an overeducated, Latin-burbling knuckle-headed lothario fritter their money away on schemes such as a bus which doesn't exist, more cycle accidents per capita, a limit on the congestion charge so he can ...
I'm completely shocked that, twice in one week, Government Departments have actually done what they are supposed to do. Remember my "why should I get free prescriptions" rant from last week? Well, I only filled in the form last Wednesday, and my exemption certificate arrived yesterday. Can't be bad. LibDig This!
Streetcar, who run Islington's successful car club, are expanding into Haringey. My Lib Dem colleague Richard Wilson points out that Haringey residents near the border have been joining the club to benefit from cars in Islington. Now Islington residents can do the same with the Haringey-based cars.
Labourlist is anti-blogging. First, trying to attack the sources of revenue (write to the advertisers! Tell them not to support rascism!) that keep the high traffic blogs running is a direct attack and a classic one at that. Bringing down MessageSpace, especially, would kill several prominent blogs. The next way in which Labourlist is damaging blogging is by attempting to pin responsibility for comments on the blog owner/writer, which we have seen Labour trying to do before, thanks to their 'innovations' on libel laws, which seems determined to drive us all to moderating comments therefore raising impossible costs on high ...
Actually I don't think Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson did kiss on the platform at Carnforth Station, but they couldn't do it at Warrington today where they have erected no kissing signs. Are the people of Warrington really so passionate that they need this restraint ? Perhaps they are trying to win back the world simultaneous kissing record for Britain. Until Valentine's Day this year, the
Editing the Power of Information Task Force report to deliver final version by end of this week http://poit.cabinetoffice.gov.uk #poit
It's fairly cheap and easy to produce videos and make them available to the world via YouTube these days. But how do you get people to then watch them? Here are six tips to get you started on building your YouTube audiences. 1. Go local with YouTube Most YouTube videos done for a political purpose get relatively few views. If you take a look at national videos from the main political parties, viewing figures are usually at best in the thousands or tens of thousands whilst it takes millions of votes to win a general election. However, at the local ...
You'll have heard about Labour's plans to force women in Mancunian hair salons to watch anti-terrorist propoganda. You might have seen Alix's excellent post on the topic. But there might be a sneaking feeling in the back of your mind that perhaps we should be doing more. Perhaps we do need to keep a look out for terrorists and report our suspicions to the police. According to the Manchester Evening News story, the idea if this plan is to encourage [women] to report suspicious behaviour on a special hotlineThe sad thing is, it's not even a very good idea from ...
The latest development in young Draper's war against the blogosphere is an interesting one, if worrying to defenders of free speech.The first salvo, accusing Iain Dale and Guido Fawkes of racism or, at the very least, pandering to it, seemed to be cliched but effective. It got everyone talking about him, put Iain and Guido on the defensive to some extent but rallied support for his opponents. So
I have received some confused comments about the Travellers on The Former Herman Miller Site and who is responsible for moving them on. To answer the question is quite simple it is the land owners responsibility under law to move on the Travellers from this site and that is Lidl and Acornford Hampshire Ltd who jointly own the site. I reported the establishment of a travellers...
4. Violent Bonham-Carter Something of a rough diamond, Violent was always an innovator in batting technique. One hears much nowadays of 'pinch hitting' and of Kevin Pietersen's 'reverse sweep', but how many of today's young people know that both were invented by my second selection? If a short leg fielder came too close or the umpire looked poised to give her out lbw to one that had straightened a bit, then they were likely to find themselves on the business end of one of these novel approaches. As Violent herself would have put it, she made the cricket pitch 'her ...
Cameron showed his true colours yesterday. I am a fervent (some might say, rabid) believer in devolution. I say, full powers for Wales. Now. Without compromise. His comments yesterday pissed me off, actually. His dismissal of the devolution issue shows the lukewarm approach his party has towards devolution. He claims the argument is over whether the Assembly should "have a little bit more power or a little bit less power". When he puts it like that, it does sound a bit boring. It sounds a bit pointless. But I suppose we can't blame him. Although his media gurus are desperate ...
Dame Stella Rimington, former head of MI5, has joined the growing chorus against Labour's railroading of our civil liberties. In a major scoop for the Telegraph, Rimington says "It would be better that the Government recognised that there are risks, rather than frightening people in order to be able to pass laws which restrict civil liberties, precisely one of the objects of terrorism: that we live in fear and under a police state," she said.In the past, Stella Rimington has criticised ID cards as "useless" and come out against 42 day detention without trial. She's right, of course. These things ...
Oh dear, oh dear. You'd have thought that having that what with brandishing the racist tag at all an sundry one would be more careful oneself. Even if such comments came from commenters (Guido), or where made in attacks against hypocrisy of one rule for one not applying to a star name (Iain Dale), that Derek Draper would be careful in his own use of language. Not so. Over the weekend while some of us had more pressing engagements he used a derogatory term for the mentally challenged. This has forced an editor's apology on LabourList. But hang on a ...
The decision by the Labour Plaid Cymru Assembly Government to apply more stringent capping criteria to police authorities in Wales than those in England, even though it is not a devolved service, was partly responsible for the chaos that ensued at the South Wales Police Authority yesterday.A majority of members present at the meeting voted for a 9.8 per cent increase in council tax precepts to
David Cameron's visit to Barry yesterday to support Tory Assembly Member, Alun Cairns in his bid to become an MP, was not without controversy.Firstly, there was the ringing endorsement of Nick 'ipod' Bourne. Mr. Cameron said that the Tory Assembly opposition leader had "done the right thing" by repaying the £229 he used from his taxpayer-funded allowances to buy an iPod:"He has done an extremely
I could not resist the temptation on that only too brief Sunday and Monday of "real" snow for 18 years to get out there with my daughter on the piste of Primrose! For my daughter this was the first time to experience snow, she loved every moment of it. As for myself, I remember only too well the last occasion in London 18 years ago when I found myself snowed in my Baker Street office. I seem to recall then that it was apparently the wrong kind of snow as far as British Rail was concerned! Now in 2009 it ...
