The Liberal Democrats tonight put forward an alternative budget for the people of Wycombe. a budget for serving the people of Wycombe. a budget recognising the value of Wycombe District staff. a budget that supports the voluntary sector. a budget that funds Holywell Mead Swimming Pool for 1 year. a budget that reduces the Council Tax increase from the Conservatives proposed 3.2% to 3%. The Liberal Democrat alternative budget would reduce the council Tax increase from 3.2% to 3% AND provide funding for both the Holywell Mead Open Air Pool and the Environment Centre. Under the Lib Dem plan some ...
Following Chris raising residents' complaints about the state of the roadway in Nairn Street, several potholes have now been repaired, although Chris has now also asked for improvements at the junction with Martin Street. Chris has now raised with the City Council complaints about the condition of parts of Pitkerro Road, including loose (and therefore noisy) manhole covers. Residents have also expressed concern about the speed of some vehicles in Pitkerro Road and in nearby Loraine Road - Chris has taken these concerns up with Dundee City Council's Road Safety Officer.
Chris Huhne launches the Freedom Bill, with the comment that Nineteen Eighty-Four was a warning, not a blueprint.Our first draft of the freedom bill contains 20 measures to restore the fundamental rights that have been stripped away in recent years. We would: • Scrap ID cards for everyone, including foreign nationals. • Ensure that there are no restrictions in the right to trial by jury for serious offences including fraud. • Restore the right to protest in Parliament Square, at the heart of our democracy. • Abolish the flawed control orders regime. • Renegotiate the unfair extradition treaty with the ...
Today, I have received notification that the funding is not to be removed this year. However, next year they will be cutting the funding by even more than originally stated next year instead. It will be 50% down and then completely removed the year after.Only a short reprieve, but the great mobilization of local support and now it's time to start for next year. Now, it's time to continue on
Baroness Shirley Williams will be speaking at a special Fabian Society event on 10 March to answer the question "How liberal is Labour?" in conversation with Newsnight's Michael Crick. Tickets are free for Fabian Society members and £10 for non-members. In addition, you can buy a six-month introductory membership for £9.95 which includes a free ticket to the event (do you see what they did there?).
Wendy Richard died today. I am not an EastEnders fan (though June Brown is a national treasure) so I shall remember her as Miss Brahms from Are You Being Served? Before that I have the vaguest recall of her being in a sixties BBC soap opera called The Newcomers. And, as long ago as 1962, Wendy Richard featured on a number one record: "Come Outside" by Mike Sarne. Enjoy.
Kirsty Williams, leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats and Assembly Member for Brecon and Radnorshire, is the party's representative on tonight's Question Time (BBC1 and online, 10.35 pm GMT). Kirsty will be joined on the panel by the permatanned Peter Hain (the man who staked all on becoming his party's deputy leader), political editor of the Sun (yes, they really do have one) George Pascoe-Watson, Conservative shadow secretary of state for Wales (and, erm, MP for Chesham and Amersham - it makes sense, non?) Cheryl Gillan, and leader of the Plaid Cymru group in Westminster Elfyn Llwyd (whose hobbies, Wikipedia ...
Two thirds of the way down Leith Walk there were two signs;One says welcome to LeithThe second said Twinned with Rio de Janeiro Someone has pinched the second sign, this is bad and an amnesty should be announced.The people of Leith want their sign back! ------------------
Mike Sarne with the late Wendy Richard from 1962 with "Come Outside", which got to Number One in the charts.
"The Conservatives started curtailing our liberties in a mild way by retaining after World War 1 certain aspects of the Defence of the Realm Act...but their performance was insignificant compared to the orgy of controls an restrictions in which the Socialists indulged. The list of your rights that the Liberals would restore is too long for this page - but did you know that it is thanks to a Liberal, Harry Willcock, that you do not still need to carry and identity card..?" So wrote Heather Harvey in her Southend West election leaflet in 1959. Things - and Liberals - ...
As everyone who commutes on the Victoria Line knows, it is horrendously {richard} overcrowded -running at absolute full capacity at peak times. Routinely it is physically impossible for Haringey residents to squeeze on trains at Finsbury Park in the morning. I would have hoped that the Council would have been fighting to relieve these cattle truck conditions, and would be warning property developers against big new housing developments at Seven Sisters and Tottenham Hale that risk worsening an already dire situation. However, papers that went to a recent Planning Committee showed that the Council was doing the opposite, and instead ...
We mentioned early in the week that we are changing our hosting package. For the upgrade to take place we need to move all the files from one machine to another and then tell the rest of the internet that we have moved. Therefore between 5pm tomorrow (27th Feb) and 11pm Saturday* the site won't be updated. No new posts and no new comments. The forum will be completely closed during this period too. This will allow me to get an up to date mySQL dump which can then be uploaded and ensure that the name server changes go through ...
As I left the Assembly at 3pm this afternoon rumours were flying around of blood being shed in the Tory Party offices. A reshuffle was under way and a number of Conservative AMs were observed looking grim faced and visibly upset. Talk is that Jonathan Morgan was offered Education, refused and now has no front bench position at all. Will he still remain as Chair of the Health, Wellbeing and Local Government Committee? Former fuel protester Brynlle Willians is alleged to have been given transport. I suppose that means he will have to learn that the job is about keeping ...
On Monday evening. miss_s_b did, with a fair bit of help from Shrub and me, bake cupcakes. A sign that I'm getting naturalised is I'm now in the habit of calling them buns (mostly, admittedly, because Shrub gets confused otherwise). SB was in charge on Monday, because I'd not baked cakes for years (and years and years), and simply lack confidence in the kitchen. It's not that I can't cook (granddad was a chef, I grew up around farms), more that, generally, I couldn't be arsed. But, y'know, I do enjoy cooking, so I'm trying to build my confidence up. ...
A BBC/ICM poll reports that more than half of people in Wales would vote for the Welsh assembly to have full law-making powers if a referendum was held today:A total of 52% said they would vote for full law-making powers in a referendum, 39% said they would vote against. It is the first time a poll has shown majority support for full powers.But it does not indicate the shift of opinion in favour
The Islington Gazette is covering my fairer fuel bills campaign. The online petition is here.
So Sir Fred Goodwin, former chief of RBS, vows to keep his £650,000 a year pension, despite having been at the helm throughout the period when RBS was essentially destroyed and forced to beg money from us, the taxpayers, to get them out of the mess. A lot of people will be painting Sir Fred as venal, grasping and wholly immoral. Quite possibly true, but isn't that what capitalism (or at least a common form of it) is meant to be all about? The guy got a deal where he gets over half a million a year from now until ...
If you're not concerned about our freedoms now, you ought to be. Perhaps you think things still aren't too bad. Take the Freedom Quiz, and see if your perceptions are still the same afterwards. Then have a good read of the Liberal Democrats' new draft Freedom Bill. I quote Chris Huhne in the Guardian's Comment is free: "There has always been a problem for civil libertarians. The sacrifices of freedoms made by successive governments often seem small, particularly when they are pushed through at times of panic about terrorism. Each time, the government argues that you only need to give ...
Andrew van de Burgt, a Kingston upon Thames resident and Editor of Autosport Magazine, has designed a formula 1 circuit through the streets of Kingston and some residents are now lobbying to bring the sport to the town. The circuit includes the John Lewis tunnel and Kingston Bridge. Sadly, van de Burgt hasn't incorporated into the route the Portsmouth Road, which follows the Thames into Kingston and has the best views of the town. Apart from that, I think it's a great idea. I hope local MP Ed Davey and the Council get behind it.
The Liberal Democrats today published their Freedom Bill, designed to "roll back the draconian laws passed by successive Labour and Conservative administrations". You can read more about it on the party's Freedom Bill website. Chris Huhne, the Lib Dem shadow home secretary, sets out the case for the bill in a Guardian article: The Liberal Democrats are determined to resist the slow death by a thousand cuts of our hard-won British liberties. George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four was a warning, not a blueprint. Yet the Big Brother society that he satirised is growing before our eyes. Our forebears who fought so ...
Welcome to the 105th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (15th-21st 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. Liberator: Ignorant, Conformist and Poverty of Vision on Jock Coats' Jock's Place blog. A controversial headline; an intelligent dissection. 2. Are the Lib Dems really up?? on Darrell Goodliffe's Moments of Clarity blog. Who knows? But the polls have certainly been more fun ...
Almost three years ago Tony Blair's normally calm persona at PMQs took a serious knock when he fumbled out an answer that there was nothing new on rendition flights. Even Iain Dale was impressed with how Ming had got the then Prime Minister on the ropes. Then the Prime Minister said there was nothing new to from the Council of Europe's report that Britain had colluded with the USA on extraordinary rendition flights. To be fair to Tony Blair it now appears that collusion is indeed the wrong way to describe it. The Labour government appear to have actively handed ...
It appears that somebody hasn't been telling the whole truth about Sir Fred Goodwin's pension. The Government has protested all day that they only found out about Sir Fred's pension arrangements last week. They go on to say that they will do what they can to stop him claiming the full amount. From what has emerged in the media to date, it seems that Sir Fred's pension was agreed back in October when the Government told RBS that they were unhappy with his performance and he would have to go if a bail out were to be contemplated. So the ...
Yesterday we gave Giles Clarke, chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, our prestigious Unbelievable Claim of the Day Award after he told the BBC he had received 9000 supportive e-mails over the Allen Stanford affair. So it was interesting to see this correction in the Guardian today: A report quoted Giles Clarke, chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, saying the ECB had taken external advice from KPMG on a deal proposed by Sir Allen Stanford. He was mistaken; the ECB advises that KPMG was not consulted on the proposal.
Last night's council meeting was yet another slanging match between the big hitters in the Tory and Labour parties. For people supposedly acting as leaders of the community, there are times when conduct in the chamber descends to the level of a bar-room brawl. We could alleviate some of the budgetary pressures by having council meetings sponsored by Barnum and Bailey, so circus-like are the performances. It's serious business we go about at the Town Hall. Last night perhaps more so than any other. We're making decisions about cutting services, setting tax levels, and coming up with new ways to ...
The Freedom Bill, announced by the Lib Dems today, is a very welcome move. I almost smiled, in fact, to see such a thing. As a way of listing all the things that need rolling back, it is marvellous, although I expect this list will be longer come the General Election. I wonder if we dare go further and begin to enshrine liberties constitutionally? If the evidence of the New Labour era tells us anything, it is that our civil liberties are woefully easy to override on political whim, that we - the people - have no protection whatsoever from ...
Today I am a little saddened to hear that Graham Watson MEP is poking fun of "new media" and is insulting new media geeks like me by telling a debate which was attended by Tom Harris that his Facebook friends are trawled for by his staff and his twitter is updated by his wife. Personally on the point of Facebook, the fact that the MEP has to get his staff to find friends for him just shows that he doesn't use it as he should. He rather just cancel the account if he is not going to use it himself, ...
Thu 26th
17:54
Bury Tories veto Lib Dem plans for credit crunch fund, pavement repairs and youth service
Last night's council budget meeting cut services left, right and centre, whilst imposing a massive above-inflation Council Tax hike of nearly 5%. The Liberal Democrats proposed EXTRA spending where it matters to people most, but our plans were vetoed by the Conservative Executive seemingly hell-bent on pursuing an agenda miles from what the people of Bury want. Firstly, we proposed that a special "Credit Crunch Advice Fund" be established (initially for just one year) to provide a much needed boost for advice services to people and small businesses in Bury that are struggling because of the Credit Crunch. Thousands of ...
Last night was the Bury Council budget setting meeting, and the ruling Conservatives have lumbered the people of Bury with a staggering 4.79% Council Tax rise from April this year. The headlines from last night's meeting were: - A massive 4.79% increase in Council Tax from 1 April 2009 - Cuts and savings, already announced, which include turning 40% street lights off during the night - a welcome increase in funding in some areas, in particular much needed funds for disabled services and for child protection - virtually no new schemes. In fact, the two "flagship" schemes triumphantly announced by ...
More praise for Tom Brake, who has been using Facebook as one of his channels for communicating with constituents: Emily Bell writes in the Guardian: "I'm envious of my colleague who can ask her MP, Tom Brakes [sic], to look into matters of irritation at Carshalton station. He does it, and registers that he has on his Facebook status. She feels she has a personal relationship with her MP, something a thousand doorstepping exercises would never achieve." Mark posted recently about MPs' uptake of various internet tools, and the fact that there are many to choose from. Tom Brake's use ...
Only days after I said that maybe we should do something to honour Radcliffe's own Danny Boyle after he won most of the available Oscars, Bury Council are putting together proposals which would see given the Freedom of the Borough. The Council is also considering bestowing the honour to the Brit award and Mercury Prize winning band Elbow, also from Bury, and the Paralympic champion Zoe Robinson to congratulate them on their individual successes over the past civic year. Guy Garvey, Mark Potter, Craig Potter, Richard Jupp and Pete Turner from, the Mercury Award and Brit Award winning band Elbow, ...
In 25th place on my list of 25 random things about me was this: 25. I was born in Gothenburg in Sweden, I grew up in Sheffield, and have developed a real attachment to Wales despite having only lived there for nine months. I feel proud of all of them, which proves to me that everyone [...]
Tory Troll has the story: Brian Coleman has almost tripled the amount of expenses he claims from the London Fire Authority, Tory Troll can reveal. The figures released to this blog, show that the man Boris Johnson appointed to chair LFEPA claimed a whopping £2275 in 'subsistence and travel' between 1 April and 31 December 2008. This is almost three times what he claimed between April and December the year before. To put that into context, the other 25 members of LFEPA claimed just £1395 worth of expenses between them over the same period. You can read the full post ...
Having seen this on BBC if Darling didn't lie then I guess it means Labour are completely incompetent - in fact I would say dangerously so. I've heard that phrase somewhere else before. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7912651.stm Could this be the final nail in the coffin - that he COULD have done something but didn't know he could? [...]
Thu 26th
16:50
Pelosi wins Wolfgang the Seal clapping award for State of the Union backdrop performance
Meanwhile Joe Biden wins the "I'm going to look statesmanlike, but I still have to keep up with her, award"
Despite Lord (Paddy) Ashdown's public declaration last week that the Lib Dems should support a referendum on Scottish independence, Tavis Scott has made it clear he won't budge - here's today's Daily Telegraph: Tavish Scott, the Scottish Lib Dem leader told the Daily Telegraph he would rebuff any offers made by the First Minister because he did not want to be drawn into a constitutional "trap" that could threaten the Union. ... The rejection leaves Mr Salmond with an almost impossible task to win the parliamentary majority he requires at Holyrood to get his Referendum Bill passed. Without the Lib ...
My Uncle Richard (honorary uncle - married to Mum's best friend) has spent his life working in potato marketing. No marketing needed where I'm concerned! However I don't think he ever came up with anything quite like this.
Labour minister Hazel Blears has spoken out against over-sensitivity blunting the debate on certain things that conflict with our traditional British values (such as they are). Some people, Ms Blears worries, are so concerned about causing offence that they choose not to criticise, or act against, all manner of undesirable behaviours. Ms Blears mentioned forced marriages (which are illegal), female genital mutilation (also illegal), homophobia and religious extremism. In a move sure to excite the Daily Mail, Ms Blears criticised those who hold back on the Christmas decorations for fear of offending other religions. Some of this is largely myth. ...
I don't normally share tweets that I find, funny, interesting or needing a voice with blog readers but today I am going to make an exception. "@derekdraper The Labour Party"(James Graham)in reply to derekdraper To follow me on Twitter follow the link!
...when he find the comments section on this Guardian article. With a title like "Where were you when you heard that Margaret Thatcher had resigned?", it was never going to full of warmth!
Chris Hune, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, today published the party's Freedom Bill, designed to kick-start a debate on the extent to which personal liberty has been sacrificed over the last two decades in the name of security.Writing on The Guardian's website Comment is Free, Hune launched the bill by simply listing some of the various freedoms now lost to the British public in the wake
Yesterday's Guardian carried this story: Privacy rights of innocent people will have to be sacrificed to give the security services access to a sweeping range of personal data, one of the architects of the government's national security strategy has warned. Sir David Omand, the former Whitehall security and intelligence co-ordinator, sets out a blueprint for the way the state will mine data - including travel information, phone records and emails - held by public and private bodies and admits: "Finding out other people's secrets is going to involve breaking everyday moral rules." Omand's frankly terrifying report has been published by ...
I spent this morning in and out of shops, reporting back on the business survey. My first call this morning was the first business I had called on back in January. First time around he was one of the most positive responses. The owner told me that he would be less positive now. The number of customers was constant on the same period last year, but they are now spending less money. This seems to be the consistent refrain. I heard a similar story in a used car showroom - and also that the fall in new car sales was ...
This issue has been raised by Daniel Finkelstein on his blog where he argues isolation will be the best way to tell Hamas they need to change their way, personally I think he has made an error and he needs to see the bigger picture. Hamas will not be threatened by isolation the only thing that will happened is that they will see it as peace and quiet and just take time off from doing their part in the troubles between Palestine and Israel. If we in the West and especially the United Kingdom want to make an effect to ...
More sad news, actress Wendy Richards has died at 65. Watching Pauline and Arthur on Eastenders (it started when I was 10) was one of the memories that makes up my childhood. I have to say I never got into Are you being Served? (the repeats) but I know a lot of people still love it. Wendy Richards 1943-2009
And now on ITV 17, "Welsh Labour Politicians Say The Stupidest Things"...Excuse Me While I Hate MyselfOur first clip comes courtesy of Rhys Williams, the Labour PPC for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr. A strongly Welsh-speaking area, Carmarthen East and Dinefwr is fairly iconic for Plaid; it's the successor to Gwynfor Evans' old seat and is now represented by The Next Leader Of Plaid Cymru™ and The
Oval Ward Lib Dem Councillor Faye Gray (photographed above investigating one of the boarded up family homes the Labour Council have left empty on Meadow Road) spoke out strongly at last night's full meeting of Lambeth Council to oppose the huge 17% hike in rents voted for by Labour Councillors. This is £12 extra a week, or over £50 extra per calendar month. Faye pointed out that April's rent hike will be the highest known increase of any council in the country and that at this time of increasing economic difficulty, the council should think again.
Just heard on the closing headlines of The World at One that John Hutton has just admitted to the House of Commons that there has been at least one example of UK forces handing over a suspect to the US in the sort of rendition circumstances that had previously been denied. He trotted out the usual government formula of "we knew nothing" and "previous statements were in good faith". So incompetence it is then. What annoys me most about this sort of thing is that the government will loudly deny for years that it has not been happening and then ...
The New Zealand Government has decided not to investigate pay inequalities amongst its social workers because, er, it might end up having to pay the women more. LibDig This!
You heard this first in the People's Republic.* Ready? Scrap ID cards for everyone, including foreign nationals. Ensure that there are no restrictions in the right to trial by jury for serious offences including fraud. Restore the right to protest in Parliament Square, at the heart of our democracy. Abolish the flawed control orders regime. Renegotiate the unfair extradition treaty [...]
The reviews of Islington's property market confirms that rents in the borough are falling - for private tenants that is. Under the heading 'Tenants remain in strong position', the February Primelocation price index report says that London lettings prices fell for the tenth successive month and were 9.3% (£89.47) lower than this time last year, [...]
A while ago I blogged about counterfeit cigarettes and tobacco. An anonymous poster commented about the prevalance of this in some particular pubs (without naming them). Given how dangerous this stuff is, I would like to get the trading standards unit to look into this, but to do so I would need the names of the pubs. I realise the anonymous poster won't want his or her name used, but I'd be grateful if you felt able to give me the details via my council e mail which is paula.keaveney@liverpool.gov.uk
{Chris Huhne MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary} Chris Huhne MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary Chris Huhne and his Liberal Democrat colleagues have just finished a press conference in Cowley Street, launching the party's draft Freedom Bill. As he writes for Comment is Free: There has always been a problem for civil libertarians. The sacrifices of freedoms made by successive governments often seem small, particularly when they are pushed through at times of panic about terrorism. Each time, the government argues that you only need to give up a modest amount of freedom or rights to win greater security. ...
Today's Daily Post is reporting the Lib Dem decision to hold next year's autumn federal (national) party conference in Liverpool. The autumn conference is the biggie in terms of length and number of delegates. This follows us holding the Spring conference in Liverpool last year.
Chris Huhne and colleagues have just finished a press conference in Cowley Street, launching the party's draft Freedom Bill. As he writes for Comment is Free: There has always been a problem for civil libertarians. The sacrifices of freedoms made by successive governments often seem small, particularly when they are pushed through at times of panic about terrorism. Each time, the government argues that you only need to give up a modest amount of freedom or rights to win greater security. And what could be more free than life itself? Yet the cumulative effects of this salami-slicing have now become ...
The people of Bury are to face a staggering 4.79% Council Tax rise from April this year, under budget plans agreed last night by Bury's Conservative-run Council. The headlines were: - massive 4.79% increase in Council Tax from 1 April 2009 - Cuts and savings, already announced, which include turning 40% street lights off during the night - a welcome increase in funding in some areas, in particular much needed funds for disabled services and for child protection - virtually no new schemes (the Council is to take on 2 apprentices as its contribution to the economic downturn (yes I ...
With me being someone who rather read a blog or newspaper over a book I don't know a lot about George Orwell but after reading a Wikipedia entry about him I have learnt that he was a very liked writer. No wonder he has an award by his name which has now increased this year, and boggers are included in the award. The BBC has written an article about Orwell and whether or not he would have been a blogger, if it was a trend of his time? Personally just with reading his Wikipedia page the answer to that is ...
{Civic office} It is with a heavy heart that I have to report that there is STILL no budget. A motion was tabled last night, by Labour, which was based very loosely on our original amendment from the previous evening. The very same amendment they had lambasted the day before! Cllr Lovelock saw fit to pass this motion to us at 17.06, when the meeting was due to start at 18.30! At no point did Labour attempt to contact the Lib Dem or the Conservative groups. Clearly, this was beneath them. The motion tabled took our amendment and watered it ...
I have a local constituent on a mission to improve services at Muswell Hill Post Office. The queues since the closure of our local sub post offices have lengthened and he wants them to do something about it. This is additional to all the campaigns and work we have all been doing on Post Office queues anyway. So - we all met - my constituent, the branch manager, area manager and regional manager upstairs at Muswell Hill Post Office. Have to say - dreadful building, complete rabbit warren, very poor behind the scenes spaces. In fact, we asked to look ...
I met with a whistle blowers' support and advice service yesterday. Following Baby P and the appalling problem anyone who tried to tell Haringey what was going on met with - i.e. Labour wouldn't listen and ignored me, other elected Lib Dem members, Nevres Kamal (the whistle blower) and so on. Clearly the next issue has to be getting a failed council like Haringey to understand that they have to change. They cannot go on ignoring those who bring warnings to them just 'cos they don't want to deal with stuff and are afraid of it getting out into the ...
In 2007, there was a 2.5% increase in teenage pregnancies compared to 2006. Though still the highest in western Europe, the rate of teenage pregnancy has been falling gradually since 1998 and is now 13% lower than it was back then. It rose slightly in 2002 before resuming it's fall. There's no particular reason to think this 2007 figure is an end of the drop rather than a blip. Unfortunately for the Government, they set themselves the wholly unrealistic target of a 50% cut in teen pregnancies by 2010. That sort of change doesn't happen through education programmes. Perhaps if ...
BA not checking anyone in at T5 due to computers being 'down'. Oh dear.
Tonight (Thursday 26th February) is the Frome Vale Area Forum. It kicks off at 7pm in Chipping Sodbury Town Hall and items on the agenda include anti-social behaviour, a Street Care update, a decision by the area committee on small grants and an open session for you to talk about the issues that concern you.
Gordon Brown broke the rules set by the Parliamentary Authorities according to a report that you can read by following the link. When Gordon rented his office out to his local Labour party he broke the rule because he did not declare it, and the report has made the whole issue public but what will actually happened. Are they going to fine or hold Gordon to account? No and the conclusion for the whole report can be seen by following the link says: Mr Brown has apologised and in our view no further action is necessary That doesn't hold him ...
Okay, they haven't really. But don't you think, in like of the whole Deripaska affair, they should do a chariddy cover version of this?
One of the interesting features of the debates provoked by last week's analysis of Liberator's latest assault on 'the right' of the party, and the Social Liberal Forum's related critique, was the refrain in the comments of an old theme about how unhelpful the labels left and right can be in understanding the viewpoint of the person thus labelled. Indeed it's a point of view that in part has defined Nick Clegg's approach to answering questions on which way he is taking the party: It's not a matter of left versus right, but what is fair. - Independent, June 2008 ...
In Canterbury, one of our councillors, Ron Flaherty (pictured left), is a magistrate, and he raised an interesting question about the recently introduced surcharge on fines, intended to fund support for victims of crime and witness protection. I was intrigued, and so I lodged a question for the Minister. Asked by Baroness Scott of Needham Market To ask Her Majesty's Government for how long they intend magistrates' courts to collect £15 surcharges for victims of crime; and [HL1090] To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of the proceeds from the £15 surcharge for victims of crime collected by magistrates' courts ...
Two stories from this week's Journal to draw your attention to: A JAZZ musician has sent a "poison pen letter" to the Post Office - in the form of a satirical song - after being forced to stand in ever-increasing queues. [More] A STRING of family-run shops launched a petition against plans to build a superstore on the site of a former pub claiming it will drive them into poverty. [More]
I only ask because, you see, when the Freedom of Information legislation was going through Parliament, David Davis was one of the MPs who opposed the idea that a Government minister could veto the release of information: A cross-party alliance of senior MPs was formed yesterday to attack the Home Office for giving ministers wide-ranging powers of veto in the Freedom of Information Bill ... Others who joined the call for fellow MPs to back cross-party amendments to the Bill included David Davis (C, Haltemprice and Howden) (The Independent, 31 March 2000) So now that Jack Straw has used the ...
I have no knowledge whatsoever of this matter, of course. I only glimpse at the headlines on other people's Metro while cycling at the gym. Cancer is a voracious beast that does not lose its grip of you. It generally kills you slowly, mostly due to medical progress. It all becomes a long fight against time. I recently lost someone to whom I was really close, so I really cannot preach austerity in
In 1854 the Northcote-Trevelyan report essentially set out the model of Her Majesty's home civil service that is still used today. In good Victorian style, there there was to be a clear distinction and strict hierarchy between those who set policy, administrative staff, and those who merely conducted routine, "mechanical" tasks. The administrative staff worked directly with ministers, who were accountable to Parliament, but the civil servants of the administrative class were not accountable to ministers, but to the Civil Service Commission. These were professional staff, who were unchanging even as ministers, governments and even political parties came and went. ...
Campaigning MPs from all parties are doing their best to combat the expansion of Heathrow. And for good reason. As I've blogged before, another Heathrow runway will be a disaster for the environment without helping the economy: a seriously bad idea. One of the many disgraceful aspects of the Heathrow issue is that the Labour government denied [...]
The largest annual loss in British History, and the CEO of the bank gets a £650,000 a year pension. Included in the main blog post are calculations! I bet you can't wait.
March's edition of Total Politics carries the following piece from me about Twitter, and in particular why councillors and would-be councillors should consider using it. The Voice has covered Twitter more than once before, but if you are one of the many people who are just have joined Twitter or are now thinking about joining it, this post should be a helpful introduction. What is Twitter? When a jet plane crash-landed on the Hudson River in January, one of the first - and the most striking - photographs was taken by Janis Krums. On a passing ferry at the time, ...
No, I've not given up driving for lent. It's been the previous month: at the end of January, I was running late for a residents' meeting in my ward, hopped into my car, put the card in the slot, pressed the brake and hit the "start" button - Renault Meganes not having keys for ignition - when all hell broke lose. The wipers fired and wouldn't stop (the same wipers that had failed completely in December, needing a replacement motor). The lights flashed. The dashboard flashed its WARNING and STOP! signs alternately. The engine had started, but wouldn't stop. The ...
To Burnley, for a meeting with the Lib Dem council leader, Gordon Birtwistle, who has a chance of becoming the town's first Lib Dem MP. I'm a born Lancastrian, but Gordon is born and bred. He's blunt, dry as a bone, and he creases me. We stand outside the General Hospital, and he tells me of the campaign he is running to get an A&E facility restored. "What's the service like at Blackburn?" I ask. "Shocking," he replies. "A man ended up there in a body bag the other week. He wasn't even dead. And he puts up a poster ...
Sunder on LC has spotted an interesting definition of Britishness being employed by the Daily Fail: you're only British if not only you, but your parents and grandparents were born here. This means that Winston Churchill (mother American) was not British, and nor are many of the royal family (because of Phil the Greek). Employing the Fail's definition, then, which of these options best applies to you? View Poll: Just as a matter of interest
As I'm working at my computer, local carpenter Martin Fox (no relation) is busy outside, rehanging the front door. The door's been sticky for a few months now, we've been blaming the weather, but have now finally got round to getting it fixed. Martin's not only fixed the door, but has diagnosed the problem: a gap [...]
I've been thinking more about the Liberal Youth elections. I've read the candidates' websites and facebook groups, as well as their manifestos, and I think I've got a fair understanding of how they see Liberal Youth. But I'd like to get a better political understanding of the people who're running. So I've prepared these ten [...]
Daily collection of links and thoughts that weren't worth a whole post. 22:24 New LibCon post: Jack Straw's right, Cabinet Government matters: Jack Straw has decided no.. tinyurl.com/dyyfzc #Microblogging using LoudTwitter and Twitter. matgb_twitter is there if you're mad enough.
Readers will remember that I asked the Labour leader of the opposition on Stockport borough Council a question - To be fair it went to all cllrs as well as myself (I'm a private citizen who spoke at public question time`) He has responded in the following way: `I consider that Manchester City Council's integrated Recruitment & [...]
Full Council this week was another 'more heat than light' affair. Worst of all, Labour threw out our attempts to set up a fully-fledged Scrutiny Committee to look into children's services and child protection. The inadequacies of the Council's scrutiny system was one of the criticisms in the Joint Area Review report commissioned by the Secretary of State that led to the removal of council bosses and Sharon Shoesmith last year. Liz Santry, who resigned along with the council leader over Baby P, spoke about how the Labour council's own proposals for a committee would do the job effectively. She ...
Once a year, whether I want it or not, I get a missive from my MP. It's usually a sign that Labour are thinking of going to the country - I never hear from him otherwise. His two leaflets have plenty of glossy pictures of him with various people, although there is little evidence that he belives in much apart from getting re-elected.So I thought that I ought to find out what he actually does
Last night we had an inspiring evening debating education and social exclusion. The other week, my parents reminded me that my first ever political demo was against education cuts - in my pushchair! As the daughter and sister-in-law of teachers; a school governor; a former youth worker; and a scholarship girl at university, I am steeped [...]
Last month I recommended the many recordings of Bryan Magee's interviews with philosophers to be found on Youtube. One interview not to be found there is the one with Ronald Dworkin about political philosophy from the 1978 series Men of Ideas. Towards the end of it Dworkin puts his finger on what is the central challenge for modern Liberals and for particularly for anyone trying to develop a coherent social liberal philosophy for the Liberal Democrats: The practical problem is this: there are certain things we all want government to do. We want government, for instance, to select methods of ...
The BBC breathlessly reports Listening to music with degrading sexual lyrics could prompt teenagers to start having sex at an earlier age, a US study suggests.I knew it. I've been saying this for years. That collapse in society we've all been told about, where feral teenagers roam the streets at night shagging, stabbing or shooting anyone they encounter. I blame those nasty rappers like Snoopy the Dog and M&M myself. I'm an expert, don't you know. Except, as the BBC mentions briefly later on the article, the evidence suggests nothing of the sort. It showed that 45% of 13-18 year ...
When Humphrey Lyttelton died last year a little bit of Radio seemed to go with him, for 'Humph' was the host of Radio 4 anecdote to panel games I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. The show had survived the sad passing of Willie Rushton who along with Graeme Garden, Barry Took and Tim Brooke-Taylor had led us on a merry chase from Mornington Crescent to Cheddar Gorge and to balls too numerous to mention. Whereas Just a Minute who although gradually losing their A-team four (Clement Freud and the late Peter Jones, Derek Nimmo and Kenneth Williams) had always had ...
John Dixon has an interesting post on the realities of working within a coalition government. In many ways he is right. Forming alliances with other parties involves making compromises and on occasions swallowing policies you are not comfortable with. The nub of his argument lies in this passage: So, the right question is not 'How can you stay in government when they do something contrary to your party's policies?', but more 'How do you decide which issues are important enough to threaten the agreement which you have reached?' Having been in a coaliton government I can testify that his analysis ...
The first Muslim peer, in the House of Lords, Lord Nazir Ahmed of Rotheram, who is a representative of the Labour party has been sentenced to twelve weeks in Her Majesty's Pen, according to BBC sources. The sentence was a very minimal one in my view as he caused death by dangerous driving. He was using a mobile phone and texting on the motorway. He has also automatically been expelled by the Labour party. The main issue for me is that a) will he return to the Lords, b) will he sit in with cross-bench peers or c) join the ...
I wish to offer my heart felt condolences to David Cameron and his family, in this time of pain and sorrow. I pray that David and the family find patience and i pray that may God bless young Ivan's soul. Tragic loss
Hot damn! The Award-Winning Alix Mortimer has made the longlist for the Orwell Prize! OK, so did That Tory Blogger, but... GO ALIX!
As Sunder Katwala has pointed out, the Daily Mail has said it thinks it is a mistake for people who were born here but whose parents where born overseas to be counted as British. Here's the comment I'm submitting to the Mail's story: I was born here. I've lived here all my life (nearer to 40 years now than I wish to think). I've been to school here. I've been to university here. Twice. All my jobs have been here. All my homes have been here. I celebrate Christmas. I munch chocolate eggs at Easter. I was confirmed in the ...
The situation is dire. The Party lags 20 points behind in the polls. The Leader's personal ratings are even worse. With the economic situation deteriorating by the week, Labour's hopes look doomed. Brown's last throw of the dice may well be the G20 summit in April but even if he secures an international agreement of note, it is difficult to see how it will provide any electoral bounce at home. The vultures are circulating No10. Labour politicians are now jockeying for position supposedly in preparation for the leadership battle in Opposition in the post Brown era. But they are equally ...
