My friend came around to our house yesterday and asked me to help him fix his car. As we struggled to fit the front light back on it occurred to me that if he had a more modern car we probably would be able to fix the car without a computer programme. Today the local news leads on the story that the legislation that compels the manufacturers to provide the independent garages with the technical information they need, is being reviewed and may be withdrawn. Now this is bad news, particularly for our local garages who provide a great service ...
I am just so appalled and upset at the latest arrest of a local asylum seeker who is going to be deported back to the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is a man who has been through such a terrible time, and that is why he fled to the Country for safety. Whilst here he has done so much to contribute to our local community, including drumming at my Mayoral inauguration and the John Owen Trophy...
Nick Perry, Lib Dem parliamentary campaigner for Hastings & Rye, met with South East Liberal Democrat MEP Sharon Bowles at the weekend to ensure that the constituency remains high on her list of priorities. Commenting after the meeting, Nick said, "From 2006, Sharon led the fight to save Ashford International railway station, and she understands the infrastructure [...]
Attended a very successful and well-attended NE & Central Fife Liberal Democrat Dinner last night, with guest speakers Tavish Scott MSP, Sir Menzies Campbell MP and Iain Smith MSP. Other speakers included George Lyon, lead LibDem candidate for this June's European Election and ... yours truly, speaking about the Maryfield Ward by-election on 12th March! A great night - a couple of photos below!
Christmas bonus payments for 1831 elderly people in Hastings & Rye to help with winter fuel bills will not be paid until nearly Easter, warns a leading local Liberal Democrat. According to research carried out by Liberal Democrats in Parliament, nearly one in ten older people will be getting their Christmas bonus at a time when [...]
On Saturday, I organised the activist sign up desk at the London Convention on Modern Liberty. It was a great day which by all accounts has inspired a great many people, but I found myself in a somewhat dissonant role of trying to convert as much of that inspiration into real action. While there are clearly lots of people who will now go out and make something of it, I found the task extremely challenging. Some people were actually offended at being asked to do something - anything - to keep the momentum that the Convention created going. "I'm only ...
The Northshore Development on the northern bank of the River Tees near to the new Infinity Bridge is the site of what could be an exciting development that will turn the image, fortunes and status of our area. We had a presentation today on how the vision for this was developing and an opportunity to ask questions. Whilst it hs the potential for great things I do have some...
Having discovered this morning that Matt Monro acted in a film, I thought I would choose him as this week's record - even though it is just an audio recording. Monro's easy-listening style is not greatly to my taste (though "From Russia with Love" is one of the great Bond themes). This song, however, is worth a little consideration. Round about 1970, when this single was released, the counter culture began to seep into Radio 2 style music. I am thinking of records like "Banner Man" by Blue Mink (best known now from its use in the film East is ...
The Northshore Development on the northern bank of the River Tees near to the new Infinity Bridge is the site of what could be an exciting development that will turn the image, fortunes and status of our area. We had a presentation today on how the vision for this was developing and an opportunity to ask questions. Whilst it hs the potential for great things I do have some...
This review can also be found on Amazon.In February 2009, I only completed reading one book. I have been terribly slack: 1. Flash!, by L.E.Modesitt This is poorly structured and poorly written. Every single one of the characters is a flat cardboard cut-out, the world they inhabit isn't at all well-explained, and so the resulting story is mostly confusing and hard to follow.
I noticed tonight that a Facebook group has been launched which campaigns to "Shred John Prescott's Pension" so as not to "reward him for failure," in much the same way as he's campaigning against Sir Fred Goodwin's pension. There's nothing more certain to attract the most feverish bandwagon-jumpers these days than a Facebook group, but this one I think misses the point and misdirects the argument in an unfortunate way. Putting Mr Prescott aside (for the moment), there are obvious flaws in Sir Fred's pension payments, and people are right to be annoyed. He seems to have had his annual ...
I really do think Gordon Brown and others in the Labour Party are being completely hypocritical on this issue and just jumping on the bandwagon. My personal view, is that Sir Fred Goodwin should give a percentage back, a massive percentage back - at least 90%. Yes, I really do mean this, the man along with his Non Executive Directors and the senior management team of RBS should be utterly ashamed of themselves! However, we must remember that the Labour Government have known about Sir Fred's pension, and the amount it was since last October - so for five months ...
Harriet Harman this morning on the Andrew Marr show said something which had far reaching ramifications. She said of Sir Fred Goodwin's pension: "The prime minister has said that it is not acceptable and therefore it will not be accepted. "And it might be enforceable in a court of law, this contract, but it is not enforceable in the court of public opinion and that is where the government steps in." So be wary. This current Labour regime is eroding more and more into our civil liberties. They have already shown they see themselves as above the law when they ...
All, Some national politics this week: The Liberal Democrats have published our Freedom Bill, detailing how the party plans to roll back the authoritarian laws passed by both Labour and Conservative governments which have undermined civil liberties. The legislation is the first time a major political party has collated all of the laws which have undermined civil liberties into one Bill, so that they can be easily repealed. The 20 measures contained in the draft legislation will: - Cut the maximum pre-charge detention period from 28 to 14 days - Abolish the veto in the Freedom of Information Act that ...
John Prescott has asked: "how the hell the former RBS Chief Executive Sir Fred 'The Shred' Goodwin can claim without a guilty conscience a £650,000 annual pension a year from the age of 50. "His greed and reckless nature got us into this mess and necessitated us bailing out the bank to the tune of £20 billion to try and keep people in their homes and jobs. " He ran a survey which asked amongst other things: "Should RBS rip up his contract and take the risk of legal action." Well lets look the record of an even bigger pension ...
John Prescott is someone who has a massive pension pot yet campaigns that bank bosses shouldn't get high pensions because they have let down the banks and are costing us the tax payer millions of pounds. But what Prezza doesn't tell us is that he himself has got a pension that totals to £1.5 Million, so with him campaigning against bank bosses getting their bonuses is a little hypocritical of him, don't you think? Stephen Tall from Liberal Democrats Voice has started a Facebook group called Shred John Prescott's Pension and I think Lib Dems, Tories and people who vote ...
The Ideas Factory is a chance for you to pitch your own idea of what should be in the next Liberal Democrat manifesto. The proposal here is not the policy of the Social Liberal Forum. We will however be passing it - and the response it generates - onto the Manifesto Working Group. The Proposal Ed Randall: The author of Supercapitalism, Robert Reich, who was Labor Secretary in the Clinton administration, brilliantly explains how the ways in which we behave as consumers and investors have given rise to a monster. The monster is eroding community and civic virtue, undermining citizen ...
I have finally caved in to Twitter. Need I say more... I know Twitter is in the news a lot of late but for those who don't know go to: twitter.com to find out about it or better yet watch this youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o which will explain it much better than I can.
Every generation of teenagers needs one. That song that just pushes the boundaries of a Radio one sensitivities just that little too far and ends in a ban. For my generation it was of course Mike Read taking exception to Frankie Goes to Hollywood's Relax. I had one friend at school who ended up buying every single mix of it when they came. Hardly surprising then than the record, which at the time of the ban was heading down the charts went back up to the number one spot, nor that my friend ended up working for MTV for a ...
Today the Government, in the person of Harriet Harman, announced it would legislate retrospectively to terminate Sir Fred Goodwin's £650,000 a year pension, five months after Labour business minister Lord Myners agreed to the deal. I don't always agree with the Telegraph's Jeff Randall, but I think he's bang-on-the-money with this judgement, written even before Ms Harman's latest desperate attempts to extricate Labour from the hole into which they've dug themselves: Once we set off down the road to annulling pension contracts, who knows where the journey will end. Nobody, to my knowledge, is claiming that Sir Fred had his ...
The Ideas Factory is a chance for you to pitch your own idea of what should be in the next Liberal Democrat manifesto. The proposal here is not the policy of the Social Liberal Forum. We will however be passing it - and the response it generates - onto the Manifesto Working Group. The Proposal David Heigham: Our power to decide locally has been centralised, is still drifting to Whitehall, and should go back where it belongs. Local government exists to enable us, locally, to decide amongst ourselves everything not decided nationally. Everything that can be decided locally should be ...
As LDV's readers will know, the site took an extended day and a bit's break on Friday and Saturday while Ryan Cullen was working wonders with our servers to ensure the site doesn't continue to be suspended the moment we experience a spike in visitor traffic. Here then is the second part of our guide to the stories we would have featured if we had been able to (Part I can be found here): The Convention on Modern Liberty Lib Dems up and down the country took part in Saturday's Convention on Modern Liberty to protest against government incursions of ...
A few days ago, I quickly penned a brief article for Lib Dem Voice about a new ippr report which amounts to a paean to the database state. What the coverage about it did not mention was that the report was funded by what amounts to the ICT industry which will be the main beneficiary of such a massive expansion of the so-called "transformational government" and that this has not even been mentioned by the mainstream media. What irritated me somewhat less but which was nonetheless pertinent was the fact that the working group which commissioned this paper was co-chaired ...
None of us who heard of Ivan's sudden death could fail to have been moved. But it struck me how little most people know about epilepsy. Until a close member of my family developed epilepsy in early childhood, I didn't either. We assume that there are drugs that can treat the condition, but in our case, as with many others, it made little difference and had unpleasant side effects: slowing down learning and development, inducing a zombie like condition. It was much later on that the child's parents learned of a diet that can alleviate the symptoms - the ketogenic ...
Something you don't see very often here - it's little old me. Behind the camera this morning was fellow Highgate councillor, Bob Hare. I'm with Hetty Bower, who lives at the Mary Fielding Guild on North Hill. Hetty is 103. She's a lifelong political activist and campaigner and soon-to-be star of 'The Time of their Lives' documentary to be shown on BBC4 later this year. We were discussing the state of the pedestrian crossing at the junction of North Hill and Church Road. We are pushing for a fully-fledged crossing, as there is no 'green phase' for pedestrians here, just ...
Worrying news of another stabbing in our area. That follows the stabbing in a fight at Bentham Court (just across the road from where I live) last month. Thankfully in neither of these cases are the injuries reported as life-threatening. Unlike the series of stabbing deaths last year. But it does show that we need to [...]
From Hungary comes news of a local councillor urging council colleagues to take up "sickles and hacks" and "cleanse" the local synagogue And if I was blogging every time I saw a story like this, we'd all be here all day. The same newspaper that first alerted me to this story carried, on the same page, a story about a Jewish family having to flee Yemen after a grenade was thrown into its home. We live in interesting (if under-reported) times, and I'm not sure if everyone realises just how interesting they unfortunately are.
I haven't commented much on the rugger this Six Nations, have I? Well, TBH, that's mostly because we've been RUBBISH. I think the French are going to win it; England's chances are very slim now. Still, there is ONE good thing that's come out of this Six Nations: this ad campaign for powerade. PHWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR. Naked Paul Sackey is naked!
In Britain we are seeing the hunt for Fred Goodwin's pension, while the US is wondering what impact the Obama stimulus package will have on the economy. The stimulus, regardless of whether it works, is being used to draw a clear line between the Democrats and the Republicans. For the former, this is urgent action to prevent social and economic disaster, for the latter a return to big government. At the American Conservative Union the talk is of limited government, low taxes and individual freedom. Will this reawakened narrative work and find its way into Republican party policy? Right now ...
The NOTW has written a blog post on their Politics blog bringing to our attention that Gordon Brown will be giving a speech to America's Congress next week. You can read the spoof speech by the NOTW that the PM will give below: Thank you Mr President for your generous introduction. I'm impressed that you delivered it with a straight face. Let's drop the pretence. I'm no conquering hero, but a doomed PM trying to postpone an election I know I'll lose. That's life. Last autumn, I was a hero who "saved the world". Now I'm seen as some jinxed ...
As LDV's readers will know, the site took an extended day and a bit's break on Friday and Saturday while Ryan Cullen was working wonders with our servers to ensure the site doesn't continue to be suspended the moment we experience a spike in visitor traffic. Here then is our guide to the stories we would have featured if we had been able to: Liberal Democrats proposed scrapping ministerial veto on FOI Last week, Justice secretary Jack Straw took the unprecedented decision to over-rule the independent Information Commissioner, and block the publication of the minutes of the cabinet meeting at ...
Just before Lib Dem Voice went down for a little while as part of an upgrade, James Graham wrote a piece about David Omand's report on the necessity of big databases to protect us all.The report itself is pretty alarming, and as a member of Unlock Democracy and a Liberal Democrat, I thought that it was entirely appropriate to tip ordure on the report itself. And, if James had done so, I suspect
"I'm a liberal - I'm against this sort of thing." That's what Harry Wilcox, a dry cleaner from North London, said when asked to produce his ID card in the 1950s. He drew the line.
Some wag came up with the idea of organising a protest about the lack of swearing on the BBC today. The thing is, I don't want to complain about the lack of swearing on Desert Island Discs; I want to complain about the lack of swearing on Poetry, Please. There's no excuse for them not to broadcast a bit of Larkin on a Sunday afternoon:They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had And add some extra, just for you. But they were fucked up ...
A few links for you: At Lib Dem Voice they're wondering if the Fuhrerprinzip is now the basis for governing Britain. For all the fuss being made about the obscene amount of money that Fred Goodwin is getting in his pension, the fact is that it's his money paid into his pension scheme, and that this [...]
Following my post last weekend about the potential risk to tenants renting in Reading's substantial buy-to-let market, this week's Reading Chronicle has taken up the story. In the article, a spokesperson for the Council acknowledges this worrying fact: "Over the past six months, there has been an increase in the number of people seeking assistance from the council because their property is being repossessed from their landlord." On Friday, as a result of the article, I took a call from the National Landlords Association keen to lobby, sorry, brief me about the issue. While it's understandable that the Chief Executive and senior officers might ...
We tend not to be too poll-obsessed here at LDV - of course we look at them, as do all other politico-geeks, but viewed in isolation no one poll will tell you very much beyond what you want to read into it. Looked at over a reasonable time-span and, if there are enough polls, you can see some trends. Here, in chronological order, are the results of the seven polls published in February: Tories 40%, Labour 28%, Lib Dems 22% - ICM/S. Telegraph (8th Feb 2009) Tories 42%, Labour 28%, Lib Dems 18% - Populus/Times (10th Feb) Tories 41%, Labour ...
No, not Mr Eugenides, to whom I owe the hat tip, but Newton Emerson, an Irish journalist and satirist who has this rather biased view on the cause of our current economic difficulty. Obviously I take a different view. That's the trouble with bad things happening - everyone is out to find a scapegoat, be it foreign workers (forgetting that the UK has far more of its citizens working across the EU than EU citizens working here) and now women. I bet it won't be long until someone seriously suggests repealing the equality legislation that has been so hard won ...
From the Observer: She got by with a little help from her friends. Gail Trimble, dubbed "the human Google" and the "greatest contestant ever", went from student to superstar last week with her team's victory in the final of University Challenge.But her colleagues in the winning team from Corpus Christi College, Oxford, have escaped similar scrutiny - until now. The Observer has discovered that one of Trimble's teammates, Sam Kay, was no longer a student - and had not been since June last year.Looks like Manchester's title, then. Talking of University Challenge, one should never miss an opportunity to laugh ...
I haven't mentioned Marine Barker's activities in Afghanistan recently, but for the benefit of my friends and relatives who read this blog, here's a photo of Will's patrol group. Will is front right. You wouldn't want to argue with this lot.A number of his comrades in 45 Commando have died in the past few weeks. Will should be home in little over a month.
Gordon Brown has threatened to sack Harriet Harman as she is becoming a threat to the Prime Minister in the sense that she might become the next leader of the Labour party if a leadership election was to be called. Gordon Brown is to have allegedly swore in the heated talk between aides and the Prime Minister at Downing Street. Personally not being a member of the Labour party I wouldn't be looking for talent in the party who could become leadership material, but if you are to look into it which I have the Harriet Harman is definitely leadership ...
Last Friday I spent the afternoon visiting some of my residents in Peasedown St John - helping with various issues and listening to their concerns. On my rounds I bumped into a young mum who is struggling to find somewhere to live. She is currently staying on her Mum's sofa and desperately needs to find a place of her own. She told me she had been in contact with the Council's Housing Department to ask for her old reference number (the housing application system has recently changed) which she had lost. I was horrified to hear that they had told ...
It's the end of my second month as Party President and the schedule continues along at a hectic pace. I've been out and about quite a bit, attending regional conferences in Taunton, Bradford and Reigate, as well doing campaigning and/or fundraising sessions in Western Counties (Filton & Bradley Stoke, Yeovil, Chippenham and Salisbury), East of England (Norwich and North East Herts), London (Hounslow Borough), Yorkshire and the Humber (Bradford East), the South East (Reigate & Banstead and Guildford) and South Central (Basingstoke). The routine of formal meetings continues, and this month I've been to the Chief Officers Group, the Campaigns ...
Although Robert Peston has recently been criticising HBOS for the behaviour that led to it running up massive losses, a look through his book published as recently as last year shows him repeatedly praising HBOS for some of the very actions that are now being criticised. For example, in late February, Robert Peston wrote on his BBC blog that, For all the criticism of the alleged excessive risks taken by HBOS's mortgage department - as per the charges levelled at the bank by its former head of regulatory risk, Paul Moore - the most reckless lending and investments were made ...
The BBC reports: A Staffordshire councillor has been arrested on suspicion of corruption in public office. Roger Ibbs, leader of the Conservative and Independent alliance at Stoke-on-Trent City Council, was arrested on Friday, the council confirmed.
The Lib Dems 4 Parliament site brings news about a bumper set of selections closing in March: GEDLING - PPC (28th Feb 2009). HARWICH AND NORTH ESSEX - PPC (2nd Mar 2009). CLACTON - PPC (2nd Mar 2009). BECKENHAM - PPC (5th Mar 2009). WELSH Region - PPC's (6th Mar 2009). WAKEFIELD - PPC (7th Mar 2009). NORMANTON, PONTEFRACT AND CASTLEFORD - PPC (7th Mar 2009). MORLEY AND OUTWOOD - PPC (7th Mar 2009). HEMSWORTH - PPC (7th Mar 2009). HARROW WEST AND HARROW EAST - PPC (13th Mar 2009). Harrow West - PPC (13th Mar 2009). Harrow East - ...
According to a report from the Mail on Sunday ex cabinet minister Clare Short has said that their was No meeting to discuss Iraq prior to the British army going their, that's why no minutes can be produced by the government. The minutes which I support should be released and made public don't even exist according to this report and Tony Blair made the decision himself and told the cabinet "That's it" on the whole matter. If what has been reported by the Sunday paper is true then it just shows that the war was illegal and the evidence that ...
... We'd say a big thank you to the 24,015 'absolute unique visitors'* who read Liberal Democrat Voice in February, our second highest total ever, and a whopping 88% increase on a year ago. That's especially impressive given February's the shortest month and the site was up-and-down like a yo-yo for technical reasons (hopefully now resolved). This brings our absolute unique visitor readership for the last year to date (1 Mar 2008 - 28 Feb 2009) to 227,676, an increase of 137% on the equivalent figure for 2007-08 of 96,232. Whether you're a regular here, or an occasional 'popper-by', we're ...
Travelling with Ryanair a few years back, I listened to the flight attendant making the safety announcement as he told passengers that, in the event of a fall in cabin pressure, oxygen masks would automatically drop down into the cabin. The oxygen, he added, would be the only thing you ever get for free on a Ryanair flight...
The latest round in the Sir Fred Goodwin saga contains possibly the most astonishing statement yet to emerge from a senior Government Minister: The prime minister has said that it is not acceptable and therefore it will not be accepted," Harriet Harman This is part of the Government now talking about retrospectively changing the law to deprive Sir Fred Goodwin of his pension. The law, and acts legal at the time, will be subject to revision subject to the Prime Minister's definition of acceptability. Retrospective legislation is always dubious. Better historians than me may be able to correct me, but ...
At conference, I like to have the conference calendar on my iPhone, to save me carrying bits of paper around. So, having done the work of entering all the events into Apple iCal, I've exported them into an iCalendar standard file. You should be able to import into your electronic diary if it supports the iCalendar standard.The calendar contains separate entries for every event in the main
Guido Fawkes blogged about how the Sunday newspapers had a story about Derek Simpson and his expenses as boss of the union Unite and the spending he does whilst spending nights in hotels. Derek Simpson spends £500 a night on hotels with the money from the union and to read more about the union millionaires follow the link. Iain Dale takes a different approach to this whole issue by saying the media are just throwing dirt at the union boss because Unite is going to be having an election to choose a new leader of their union, so this report ...
I've come across a great community green scheme, 'Green Zones'. I know I'm obsessed with Islington, but this one is actually from Brent. Green Zones are a street or a block where all the residents take an interest in green issues and help each other recycle, save energy, reduce water use etc. The Council provides [...]
News from Brent, where the Liberal Democrat-led council has increased recycling by around 50% in the past year: a community project started by a Brent resident and backed by the council has been shortlisted for an environmental award. From Future Friendly: The Green Zones initiative, Brent, was conceived by local resident Lorraine Skinner as a way to encourage sustainable behaviour face-to-face in the community. "Devising a questionnaire, she asked her neighbours how green they were, and then set about encouraging them to make small changes to improve their sustainable behaviour, whether it was to use energy-saving lightbulbs or to grow ...
A certain amount of hot air has been generated, both inside and outside the Council Chamber, about my friend, Lib Dem Group Leader Martin Swainston, and his failure to attend Resources Scrutiny Committee meetings called to consider the annual budget. Now, most of the councillors on Resources Scrutiny are retired. Indeed, across the whole Council, the great majority of councillors are retired,
Happy St Davd's day to all the leek-eaters on my f-list, and happy birthday to puddingcat
The BBC are investigating whether one of the winning team in University Challenge was actually a student at the college at the time of the filming. Perhaps the contestant should be taken away from the police and given a "Slumdog millionaire" style interrogation by the police ?
There were moans from public sector employees last year when the government demanded that they accept below inflation pay rises. However, as they nogotiated long term deals over 3 years in some sectors at below the then rate of inflation. These were still between 2% and 3% per annum so we now find that the public sector, with their greater job security, have also gained an advantage in salary over those in the private sector. With the retail price index measuring inflation at 0.1% for January and trending to dip in negative figures and deflation when last months figures are ...
When I first started this blog more back in 2006 one of my first blog posts was about a former Lib Dem activist, something of an "odd bod" if you understand what I mean, who had after some rows and internal party issues (to do with him thinking he was more important than he actually was), jumping ship to the Labour party. Subsequently to me posting my original story I was told he was actually rejected by the Tories, so in effect Labour were his last port of call. Anyway, back in 2006 this person wrote a letter to the ...
I had been invited to meet the Local Party in Basingstoke yesterday evening. A straight line from Reigate to Basingstoke takes you pretty close to Guildford, where my old friend, Sue Doughty, is running a first-class campaign to regain the seat, which she narrowly lost in 2005. We needed the exercise, so Mark and I were happy to join Sue and her team for some residents surveying in Worplesdon. We arrived at the Popley Fields Community Centre in Basingstoke rather early, so had the chance to meet people as they were arriving for a social get-together organised by Tom and ...
I was quite amused to see a tweet on Twitter from our own Mark Pack intimating that he was a voice of reason in Nigeria and linking to this posting What Mark didn't mention is that the article begins with a quote from Fraulein Maria in the Sound of Music! Two of my favourite people in one random blog posting from the other side of the World. Brillant! LibDig This!
The Independent on Sunday reports: Britain faces fresh accusations that it colluded in the rendering and alleged torture of a second UK resident now being held at Guantanamo Bay. The new claims bring further pressure on ministers to come clean about the scale of the Government's complicity in the rendition and torture of dozens of terror suspects captured by the Americans after 9/11. His case comes after that of Binyam Mohamed, 30, released from the US naval base in Cuba last week, and whose claims of UK involvement in his torture are being investigated by the Attorney General. Now allegations ...
Having survived the Australian jungle (and Robert Kilroy-Silk) on 'I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!', former top London policeman and last year's LibDem Mayoral candidate Brian Paddick had it easy-peasy at St Mary's Church Hall in Neasden last night, when I compered a Question and Answer session with him for Brent Liberal [...]
{logo_nhssc_small.gif} Last Thursday The Board of South Central Strategic Health Authority voted to instruct Southern Water to fluoridate the local water supply. A copy of their press release is can be read via the following link http://www.southcentral.nhs.uk/press_releases.php?news_id=95 This decision was taken despite massive local opposition to the plan. I have written to Cllr David Drew, chair of Test Valley's Overview and Scrutiny Committee stating that "In doing this they ignored local opinion, the representations of Hampshire County Council, no votes by Test Valley and Eastleigh Borough Councils and similar no votes from town and parish council in the area." "Given ...
Green Liberal Democrats are reporting that the UK government is ready to approve a new slew of coal-fired power stations, on the assurance by the generating companies that carbon-capture will be implemented when practicable. However, there are warnings that the technology is unlikely to be ready for nearly a generation. The Lib Dem national position is that new coal-fired generating capacity - which has the capacity to completely derail any attempts to reduce our greenhouse gases - should not be commissioned without carbon capture and storage technology being fitted.
I have been making political speeches for nearly 35 years. Tonight I own up to the occasion when telling the truth became my greatest mistake. I'm in Saddleworth, at the Delph Methodist Hall, speaking to an audience of Liberal Democrat members and friends at a 'pizza and politics' evening. The faces are very familiar, many I have known since 1985 when I became parliamentary candidate for the Littleborough and Saddleworth constituency. These people supported me through two unsuccessful general election campaigns and a triumphant by-election. "The year was 2000," I said, "the anniversary of my election to the European Parliament. ...
The Voice of Merrill DVD has only one extra: a selection of trailers for other films available from Odeon Entertainment. One of them is Tomorrow at Ten from 1964. The cast includes Robert Shaw, William Hartnell and Kenneth Cope. And the plot? According to the Odeon Entertainment website: A ruthless kidnapper and blackmailer called Marlowe (Robert Shaw) has abducted a young boy. After imprisoning the child in a deserted house, Marlowe gives him a toy golly for comfort. But hidden inside the golly is time bomb which is set to explode at ten the following morning.I expect the film played ...
Further to my piece on the impact of education cuts on my local FE colleges, today's Politics Show focuses in on much the same subject and in particular on the cuts in funding for school sixth forms. As the BBC website reports the teaching unions claim a decision that some schools could lose a quarter of their sixth form budgets may lead to courses and jobs disappearing. From 1 April the Welsh Assembly Government will cut budgets for the education of 16-18-year-olds by 7.4%. The Minister for Skills says that the cut reflects a tight budget across departments, and says ...
Last night a group of us went to Cafe Rickshaw and then on to the Newhampton for my birthday celebrations.
BBC4 is showing a new film, Gladstone & Disraeli: Clash of the Titans, on Tuesday, 3rd March, 8pm. According to the blurb it is: A 90 minute-long film, which unfolds the extraordinary story of the bitter personal feud that developed between two of 19th Century Britain's greatest politicians, William Gladstone (1809 - 1898) and Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881). The programme is presented by Huw Edwards - who knows a thing or two about Westminster intrigue. Assisting Huw in his telling of this fascinating tale are a number of equally well-qualified commentators, including the veteran Labour politician Lord Hattersley, Disraeli's ...
Time to catch up with the latest news and comment on this scandal from the US. Writing for the Chicago Tribune, Clarence Page shares my analysis: the judges are only the tip of a scandalous iceberg that has been floating around juvenile detention systems for years. Critics have long complained that private prisons create perverse incentives to throw non-violent offenders in jail even though they might be handled better and more cheaply in community-based alternative programs.He also asks why this affair has received so much less attention in America than the New York Post's chimpanzee cartoon. And Law.Com reports that ...
If you read nothing else about the Convention on Modern Liberty, have a look at this illuminating article by His Dark Materials author Philip Pullman. LibDig This!
var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src=\\'" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js\\' type=\\'text/javascript\\'%3E%3C/script%3E")); var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src=\\'" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js\\' type=\\'text/javascript\\'%3E%3C/script%3E")); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-7476228-8"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {Lib Dem Bird} Its been a very busy week in terms of Council meetings. We had our group meeting on Monday to discus, among other things, the up coming full Council meeting. Them on Tuesday we had the Full council, which thanks to the budget debate and recess lasted until 11pm. As you know, no budget was ...
Whilst controversy continues to rage over ex-Royal Bank of Scotland chief Sir Fred Goodwin and his "unacceptable" £16m pension, a further drama is being played out regarding the Labour Government's double standards on bonuses. Yesterday's Independent reports that Ministers have been accused of double standards after approving bonuses to thousands of senior civil servants in their own departments, despite announcing new rules designed to crack down on the generous pay deals for council executives: John Healey, the Local Government minister, said that he wanted to cut the pay and bonuses given to local authority bosses by forcing them to publish ...
They send young men and women far away from home into combat zones where they witness awful things we can't even imagine. They suffer the trauma of losing close friends and colleagues, often violently and before their eyes. Every day they live with the knowledge that they might come to a similar end. This is part and parcel of being in the Armed Forces but we have to recognise the effect that this constant trauma can have on people. You would think, wouldn't you, that we would look after these people when they return? That their injuries to both their ...
Despite warnings, the Lib Dem policy on public sector IT is falling behind the other parties. Not that our party's policy is bad, just that no-one's bothering to write one. Last month I made some suggestions on how the Government should improve the way the public sector procures IT. Among my proposals were that the public sector buys new software with an Open Source license so an application bought for one part of the public sector can be used elsewhere. Aaron Trevana complained that the Lib Dem hierarchy seemed to have little interest in the topic, a comment I agree ...
Anton Howes the leader of the Social Liberalist party has written a blog post about the Lib Dem Freedom Bill which doesn't shine for him for some reason. The young leader questions the Freedom Bill which is interesting and worth debating, so if you want to challenge him or debate the bill with him follow the link. Anton raises the issue of the detaining of terror suspects and thinks the Lib Dems should bring it down to 4 days without charge on their policy paper as suggested by David Davis, which if you ask me lets see the Tories do ...
Monday09:30 Petitions Committee (External meeting - Scottish Parliament)Short inquiry into petition P-03-118 Welsh Canoeing AssociationTuesday08:15 Subordinate Legislation CommitteeEnhancing the Scrutiny of Subordinate Legislation: Inquiry into the scrutiny of subordinate legislation and delegated powers - consideration of key issues (Private session)09:30 Children and Young People
The Advertiser newspaper is reporting that Bury has the worst pavements in Greater Manchester, according to a survey by the Chartered Institute of Phsyiotherapists. The report says that 37% of pavements are in need of repari - the figure puts Bury above the national average of 22 per cent and north west average of 23 percent. It also puts third ninth worst out of 22 local authorities in the north west. Liberal Democrats recently proposed a massive 33% increase in the local street and pavement repair budget, but were voted down by the ruling Conservative Group on the Council.
Daily collection of links and thoughts that weren't worth a whole post. 09:46 New LJ post: Linkspam and Tweets tinyurl.com/cm7aw9 #Microblogging using LoudTwitter and Twitter. matgb_twitter is there if you're mad enough.
Some nice observations from Cole Moreton in the Independent on Sunday about Wales on what should be a National holiday. Ok, I know it is a Sunday but you know what I mean. We need a bank holiday to celebrate and commemorate our national day: The Welsh are not the Irish, mind. There will be a small parade in Cardiff, Leeks and daffodils will be worn, and drink no doubt taken, but celebrations for St David never get as grand as they do for St Patrick. This may not be surprising. David was an aristocrat from the west coast, who ...
From worship to residence http://www.gumtree.com/london/21/33854121.html That's the story of all Soul's Church in Loudoun Road, swiss Cottage. Of course the Estate Agents like to call it St John's Wood - others happy to describe it as South Hampstead (as per the Railway Station). I've put in the large pic (right) to show the landscape of the station (it's the Euston Watford line) with the small tower block behind it which now dwarfs the church. The church now is 8(?) flats! The church dates from 1865 and in 1903 was parish 13 of the Hampstead Deanery. The parish was carved out ...
Someone reminded me the other day that I had not done a 10 Famous... Croatians. Rather a surprise, since Croatia is a place where I have many friends and also a place which I have visited probably more often than anywhere in Europe, apart from the Baltic and Poland. Apart from being a spectacularly beautiful country it is also home to 4 million of the most individualistic and passionate people in Europe. The near fanaticism with which they view the sporting world means that I could simply make a list of sportsmen and women and many Croats would probably consider ...
Dr Hendrik Beerstecher has looked at GPs surgeries in Kent to see if the Government's favoured option of polyclinics is really the way to go. Reported on the BBC, Dr Beerstecher has found that, other than small GP's surgeries (fewer than 6,300 patients) , there's no difference between the range of services offered by surgeries of all sizes from medium right up to the big polyclinics. That appears to challenge the Government's rationale for the new super-clinics: that they will offer services otherwise unavailable to people without a possible long journey to a hospital. Where's the money coming from? According ...
{David Sutton Loses seat} The so-called "Brown bounce" has gone. Nationally Labour thought they were on the road to recovery last autumn when their poll ratings went up. Since then Labour support has slumped yet again. People are fed up that Labour failed to see the massive problems with the economy. They are angry that Labour - and especially Gordon Brown - allowed this mess to happen. The so-called "Brown bounce" has gone. Nationally Labour thought they were on the road to recovery last autumn when their poll ratings went up. Since then Labour support has slumped yet again. People ...
So the Being Human Finale is online now, if you can't wait until this evening. Here are my reactions at the points where I could bear to tear my eyes away from the screen long enough to type: ZOMG Josie! Fantastic use of Johnny Cash FTW. GO ANNIE!!!! OMG GO ANNIE YAYYY!!! you've mastered the ability to talk like a twat *cackle* Buh... George? OMG GO GEORGE!! Wah! Nina!! O_O ... * cries * Buh... Nina? OMG that's why! Who is THAT dude? GAH SOMEBODY KILL OWEN! Oooh... Interesting! It are can be neckst series noaw pls?
Most people who are even moderately interested will no doubt by now have seen a swarm of blog posts about the Convention For Modern Liberty down in London. What's probably less well-reported are the various regional meetings, so I thought I'd give a quick rundown of the Manchester event. I won't talk too much about the [...]
