Richmond Park constituency has one of the most highly educated electorates in England, as well as an unusually strong concentration of media types. But even so, the local Liberal Democrats did well to assemble a Question Time panel at St Luke's in Kew this evening that included Lord (Richard) Harries, former Bishop of Oxford (who by [...]
In today's Guardian Martin Kettle dissects the absurdity of Ed Balls' politics: Faced with Lord Laming's report on Baby P, does one laugh or cry? The man who delivered a bureaucratic blizzard of 108 recommendations after Victoria Climbié's death and helped overload a system that failed Baby P was surely not the right man to think of 58 more.But the reaction of Ed Balls, who appointed him, is even more bizarre. From his desk in Whitehall, the secretary for children, schools and families decrees that all social service directors must be sent off for retraining, as if they were disgraced ...
Last year I asked for improvements to the three playgrounds in my ward. I had a meeting with two ladies who wanted improvements, visited the playgrounds, took photos and put them in a report to BradMet. A man from BradMet came to look at the playgrounds with me. He got some of our minor requests put through, such as litter bins. However the big improvements would be too expensive. Well, I've just heard that I can put a bid in for special playground funding. I'm bidding for help for the Delph Playground at Thwaites Brow. Some aspects of it are ...
I don't know the proper official name for the things I call "build-outs" but they're those annoying bits of pavement stuck out into the road with bollards (hope I spelt that right) on them. There are places where they really do a useful job, for ...
It's me, I'm on the train. Yes, it's Friday evening and as you would expect, I am heading home to Gateshead for a weekend of rest. I wish! David is off to a magistrates training weekend in Durham so I have to give him a lift there early tomorrow morning. I could have prescribed a train journey but that would probably mean I wouldn't have the car this weekend! And it is a one off journey so for
Having concerns over swimming pools # Standing in the queue in the postofgice listening to Mozart's Requiem #
The States' blogo/mediasphere is buzzing with reaction to Jon Stewart's monstering of CNBC last night (on Comedy Central's Daily Show). I have now watched the videos (below in three parts). I have watched CNBC a few times, but I am not familiar with a lot of the stuff they talk about here.However, as a shining example of passionate journalism and sheer mind-blowingly dramatic TV, this is
I have had a chance to look at some of the details of the Royal Mail plans of the government. I am on record as being a supporter of bringing private finance into RM but the details of what is proposed are nowhere near as attractive as was first claimed.The basic case for a change in ownership of RM is the freedom it gives to the company to raise the badly needed capital required to modernise
With a holiday in Ireland coming up later this year, I have been taking quite an interest in the excellent Slugger O'Toole website. Here's a particularly good article by Mick Fealty, producer of the website, who I met last year at my first and last appearance on 18 Doughty Street.I have visited Belfast a few times in the last couple of years. One thing which shines through is the remarkable
As usual the children and staff at our school today rose to the challenge and raised a couple of hundred pounds to be donated to Comic Relief.The children had to pay £1 to come dressed up, making us laugh. Some great outfits including teachers and children turning up in their jim jams, boys dressed as girls and other amusing outfits.Some classes also were challenged to raise an additional £25 to
Chris Moyles is one of those people I normally loathe. However, I've been watching Comic Relief and have just seen how much money he, and the others who climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, raised to fight malaria by purchasing mosquito nets - millions of them. I had malaria as a child - it's not nice. I've revised [...]
I found Cameron's Birmingham speech rather refreshing. He admits his party made mistakes, related to the economy, in government and opposition. And at long last he proposes a couple of concrete policies apart from the much repeated National Loan guarantee scheme.-A 6 month VAT holiday (sounds expensive except that it's a "delay" in payments only)-A one per cent cut in NI employers' contributions
In his new collection of articles Waiting for the Etonians Nick Cohen writes: The left is no threat to the wealthy any longer. Being a leftist is a lifestyle choice. It carries no costs and no obligations.You can see what he means. Here is Zoe Williams, the Guardian's most irritating columnist, today: I went to one of those private clinics, where if you're lucky you see Charlotte Church (she had a scan every week of her first pregnancy; I think maybe she liked the smell of the ultrasound goo - and also she is incredibly rich).I am implacably opposed to ...
Dave is good at saying sorry and he has just done so again for the Tories execrable failure to spot any issues arising with the economy and the banking sector in the past year. Thanks Dave, that's nice to hear. The problem is that, as ever, he says nothing about what he would actually do if, by some terrible misfortune probably arising from the inavctivity of good people on polling day, he became Prime Minister. Saying sorry is fine and dandy but it isn't worth a bean if the man at whose desk the buck could ultimately stop doesn't actually ...
...chiefly because the abysmal Fearne Cotton is nowhere to be seen. Thank the gods of all the religions.
I can officially confirm that the owners of the 'Your High', and of late the 'Fireworks' shop, have moved on. I originally wrote to the owners of the building last year (not the same people as the shop owners who leased the premises) advising them of the strength of feeling against the shop from local [...]
These days I find it'e best just to let Vince Cable get on with it. The article by John Lanchester was published in the London Review of Books. Vintage Vince On Monday Alistair Darling was travelling to Brussels. So it was Stephen Timms, the financial secretary to the treasury, who made a statement on the effective nationalisation of the newly amalgamated Lloyds HBOS bank. He then had to take questions. And if Mr Speaker had been a boxing referee he would have stopped the contest between Timms and Vince Cable. Vince began: There would once have been a time when ...
With help from Irfan Ahmed and Tom Harris (who discovered this).
Thanks to A Prominent Liberal Democrat Blogger for putting me on to this. Create you own Conservative Party artwork. Get in quick before it is blocked.
Well I'm up in Perth at the Scottish Liberal Democrat conference. At the moment I'm probably mingling or in one of this evenings fringe events so I am missing the goings on of Comic Relief in more ways than one. Working as I do in a call centre the faceless people at the other end of the phone during telephons are not that faceless when you know what the job entails. For events like this people will have volunteered their evening to help out the charity in question. Well this evening some of those many the telephones will be even ...
A brief fly-past, citizens, to bring you the news that David Cameron is sorry that his party has been totally unable to detect the oncoming debt crisis and resulting recession over the last decade (despite the frequent Proverbs of St Vince in and out of the House). The idea being, of course, that now Gordon will [...]
It is good when people say 'thank you'. Well Richard Hands was on his way to join me for a coffee in Birkdale village when he was approached by a local resident who wanted to thank him for getting the garden at the back of Abbey Gardens tidied up. Now it may just be that he was pleased to see Richard out and about after his spell in hospital and just wanted to chat.
Well after the disappointing Smoking result, the rest of the Scottish Lib Dem conference looks to be much more plain sailing. I spoke in the economy debate, but although my "confessions of a banker" shtick got plenty of laughs, a four minute slot is just not enough to explain the value of the Estonian model of Liberalism- so I didn't try. I just laid into the unholy Tory-SNP axis of incompetence that exists in Scotland. The hypocrisy of the Unionists in a strong though unofficial alliance with the Independentistas escapes few it seems. Meanwhile the defeat of Labour is Scotland ...
Liberal Democrat councillors have demanded immediate action to counter drastic service cuts by First Bus. The cuts mean that some areas including Iron Acton and North Yate will have no daytime buses at all. Other areas such as South Yate will have one less bus per hour, and journeys from Yate to Bristol will be at least 10 minutes longer because they will stop many more times along the way. Liberal Democrats have called on South Gloucestershire Council to arrange adequate alternative bus services for the areas affected by the cuts. "These services are vital" said Cllr Ian Blair (Lib ...
Just a wee tinge of sadness when I saw this photo from Perth. The Exhibition looks great. I want to put on record how brilliant I think my colleagues on the Scottish Lib Dem Conference Committee are. They are volunteers who give an awful lot of time to ensure the smooth running of Conference. They are working their arses off and they are having to do my share in my absence. They and the stewards all deserve thanks. LibDig This!
With thanks
The Welsh Liberal Democrats have tabled a motion in the House of Lords to stop Labour and Plaid Cymru from further undermining the Welsh devolution settlement.After a Joint Committee in Westminster warned that the Secretary of State for Wales' 'veto' over Housing powers coming to Wales could be unlawful, the Welsh Liberal Democrats are trying to prevent the Westminster government from interfering
Last year, after an enormous amount of effort from both myself and an amazingly helpful member of staff who deals with teachers pay, I finally got the Student Loans Company to admit I had repaid my Student Loan in full. The Student Loans company wanted me to carry on repaying my Student Loan for another year, whereupon they said they would repay me a year's worth of repayments at the end of the financial year. Now, some 11 months later, the Student Loans company have sent me two further letters claiming I owe them different amounts. To describe the Student ...
People's day is back again in Mountsfield Park on Saturday 11th July - and this year it's the 25th anniversary. The Council are inviting local community and voluntary groups to apply for pitches as soon as possible and by Friday 17 April at the latest. As part of the Silver Jubilee celebrations, the most eye-catching pitch or stall offering advice, information and activities which are imaginative and interesting, interactive and entertaining, will win a full refund of the hire fee (I guess this means the Lib Dem stall will need to be something more imaginative than last year's tombola...) Individual ...
I was a driving through Surbiton this morning and stopped to let a mother and her child cross the zebra. She was wearing a red nose. But the child had evidently decide to do something funny for money and was walking to school backwards. ¡ǝuop llǝʍ
I'm glad to see that common sense has prevailed and that the SNP Government has ditched its plans to sell off up to a quarter of Scotland's forests. Scottish Lib Dem leader Tavish Scott, Euro candidate George Lyon and south of Scotland MSP Jim Hume had all spoken out about the dangers of the plans. It's quite ironic that the day this is announced is the day that Tavish spends some time in a forest doing a tree climb for Comic Relief. Anyway, this is not a time to gloat, but to be happy that the Government were prepared to ...
17) Tobe Melora Correal, Finding Soul on the Path of Orisa: A West African Spiritual Tradition (Berkeley: Crossing Press, 2003, ISBN 1580911498). An interesting introduction to a religion I know very little about, with thought-provoking asides on the damage done to African-American spirituality by racism. Correal is a priestess in the US who has had a lot of contact with Buddhism and Wicca, and I think it shows; the book reminds me in places of some of the fluffier and more eclectic introductions to Wicca, although given my lack of knowledge about Orisa, I could be exaggerating the parallels. She ...
{Me in my lab} I've so stolen this idea from Jane, but there we go... According to typealyzer.com my writing style suggests I fit into the 'Extraverted Sensing Thinking Perceiving' (ESTP) brain type. So I'm one of the Doers: The active and playful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities. The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have ...
Dan Rogerson and I were out knocking on doors on the Ridgegrove Estate this afternoon to find out what residents there want from the new Council. Top of the list is something for the kids to do. There is far too much of a problem with young people kicking balls around in the street and breaking windows and also more anti-social behaviour caused by boredom. There is a very obvious need for more spaces for kids to play without the risk of breaking things and more activities - both structured and unstructured - to help keep them out of trouble. ...
The Conservatives have a website which you can use to generate your own Conservative logos and I think its a really good website to have a play with. Follow the link to the logo generation website! Below you can see three logo's that I have made, but which one is actually true for the current Conservative party? or or
Recently irfanahmed.org was not sending traffic to the blog at http://www.irfanahmed.org/ but mysteriously it started working today without touching the DNS as I couldn't work my way with that. Maybe the life expectancy of this blog has just increased, Maybe God wanted this project to continue, only God knows that!
After chuckling at Tom's, Tory Bear's, Malc's and Kez's efforts, I couldn't resist getting in on the act. I wouldn't quite say that the Blackburn Labour Party, who started it all, had redeemed themselves from inflicting Jack Straw on us, but their standing has definitely improved. I expect my fellow Lib Dem bloggers will have a go later, if they still can, but there are some advantages, not many, mind to not being at Conference. And another thing, Mr Harris, whose controversial blog celebrates its 1st Birthday and 1000th post today (congratulations), nobody outside of an Enid Blyton novel or ...
Boris silly Johnson has given £30,000 of the tax payers money to a right wing Islam extremist group which praises Al Qaeeda and promotes terrorism according to a news report from the London Evening Standard. Azad Ali the man who received the money has criticised Muslims like me and many others who call the religion of Islam a peaceful religion and Mr Ali disagrees with that. Personally I am shocked that this man was not investigated, the mosque he keeps links with was not investigated by City Hall before giving the money. Couldn't Boris not have rang up someone from ...
I got interviewed for the BBC News web site at conference last weekend. I was quoted: "Maybe they will have to compromise on some things, but I don't think it is necessary to form a coalition. I don't see why the largest party needs to be the one that forms the government.. Actually, there's some stuff missing in that quote. What I really suggested was that if a coalition is formed, it doesn't
There must be few things more insane that we do as a nation, than to segregate our children's education along the lines of which one or other of the ancient and now defunct religious mythologies are subscribed to by their parents. Simply writing it out in full has me reaching for the revolver. And if ever you wanted to hear an argument against faith schooling in just two words, they would have to be "Northern Ireland" - and so right on cue, following Saturday's debate at Harrogate, we were given a chilling reminder of the havoc wreaked by generations of ...
I have now had the time to read through all of Lord Laming's second report. The report at least recognises the increased numbers of child deaths since the first Laming Report's changes were implemented.It was difficult for Herbert Laming to question whether the changes that were introduced following his report into Victoria Climbie were the right changes. I did have a meeting with him, but
First of all, I'd just like the world to know how wonderful Robert Brown is, having recently passed me a bottle of whisky and a book that he kindly had our msps at Holyrood sign, wonderful prizes for tonight! If anyone was in any doubt, Menzies Campbell is a wonderful speaker on the topic of International [...]
Racehorses come and go - many are feted as the `up and coming star` - I remember just a while ago `Iris's gift`being the one to watch until he clambered out. Not Kauto Star - on what must have been one of the most thrilling races for years. A firm and well-deserved `people's favourite` hardly came [...]
Ed Davey, Lib Dem shadow foreign secretary, has taken to the airwaves today to make the case for inquiries into the two dodgy areas of Labour's foreign policy - the basis for the war in Iraq, and allegations of British complicity in in illegal abduction and torture. A full inquiry into the Iraq war Commenting on the latest evidence to show the extent to which Labour's spin doctors intervened to 'sex-up' the Iraqi weapons dossier prepared by intelligence officials, Ed said on this morning's BBC Radio 4 Today Programme: He said the emails show, "there was intervention, and we didn't ...
During the 80s and 90s it was common to refer to Tories as Wet if they were from the left of the Conservative Party, or Dry if they were from the Thatcherite right. It seems these days there is a missing category, the Tory Lite typified by the present Tory leadership and hangers-on. This is glaringly obvious [...]
On the 28th October last year a report was produced called 'Council deposits in Icelandic banks - Supplementary report'. The report was a report of the the Leader and Cabinet member for resources who is of course Mike Freer. The report is exempt which means that I cannot tell you what is in it. However I can tell you that it was the information contained in this report that alerted the working party on Icelandic banks that the treasury team had not followed their own strategy. Given that it was very clear in this report that there was a problem ...
Fri 13th
14:13
Creeting St Peter needs a Parish Councillor or three? Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
I have been passed a copy of the second issue of the Creeting St Peter Newsletter, published this week. It is, I have to admit, not a huge document, A4 double-sided, but does include reports from the Parish Council, the Community Council and the Parochial Church Council. It is also in colour and is quite professionally done. Big news in Creeting St Peter is talk of the lorry park, planned for the area. Our local MP, Sir Michael Lord, is clearly too busy to do much, so his neighbour, David Ruffley, who represents Bury St Edmunds is leaning on the ...
Nothing really needs to be said, in response to this news story. If true, our Government is complicit in one of the lowest imaginable acts - the torture of an innocent man. Wait, wait, what am I saying, "if". Whatever the Government says, of course they torture. These are people who lied about a war that ended up killing thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people. A war that devastated an entire region. A war that placed terrorism where there used to be no terrorism. They're hardly going to hestitate over torturing people. Post by Ol - opinions not neccessarily ...
I came up last night to the Scottish Liberal Democrat conference in Perth. The atmosphere is convivial, the weather spring-like, and it is good to see so many old friends. Mind you there is something about smoking that brings out the illiberal, even in the most liberal of Liberals. Of course smoking is bad and of course kids should be protected from smoking until they are old enough to make their own choices. However the motion before the conference was to ban cigarette vending machines- a similar policy has already been proposed by the SNP. I don't like it. Smoking ...
After the ongoing trauma linked to the future the School of Health and Social Care, more worrying news from Reading University where another important department is under threat. The School of Continuing Education is huge asset to the University, allowing more people to benefit from a University education who might not already have done so, particularly mature students. In addition many people from the Reading area attend courses at SCE to broaden their education. Now, more than ever it is vital that we invest in improving people's skills to help them cope better during a recession when people might be forced to change ...
Inside Housing reports today that the u-turn by the Labour government over council house rents could cost councils around ten thousand pounds as they are forced to re-bill tenants. In a recession when council finances are already under severe pressure, this is a scandal. I'm sure this confusion is just what Council tenants do not need at a time when they are trying to plan their own finances and ensure they have enough money set aside for outgoings such as rent. I blogged officers' initial reaction to the news earlier in the week. We don't yet know what the actual cost will be in Reading both ...
Lib Dem Cambridge City councillor, Colin Rosenstiel, draws the following to our attention: From: David Gilbertson Sent: 04 March 2009 14:02 Subject: Excessive Powers of Arrest by Police - Petition to the Prime Minister Dear Friends and Colleagues, PLEASE READ ON, THIS IS NOT A 'SPAM' MESSAGE Most people are unaware that in 2005 a fundamental change in police powers was quietly passed into law; a change that directly affects the life and liberty of you and every person in this country. Section 110 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 was 'tacked onto' an otherwise acceptable piece ...
And so we come to Game Theory, and the story that appeared in the FT, Graun and BBC a couple of days ago (on the day of the interview, in fact). I lobbed Vince a nice soft ball, inviting him to make any comments about the story. His response was that he was quite cross about the story's appearance; he feels that it's a silly story that has been somewhat manufactured by a journalist who saw some
Just arrived in Perth with some fellow young liberals, and the sun is out! Well, as out as the sun gets in Scotland at this time of year. Lots of exhibitions up, plenty of pens and a nice place round the corner for breakfast (and if I remember what its called Ill list it here!). LYS [...]
Apologies for the lack of recent updates - ever since Harrogate I've been in a mad rush with uni work, LYS stuff and other things. I'll try and give commentary from Perth, if I can get net access. I will say that I've had my ballot papers for the LY elections, and I've sent them away. [...]
Those of us opposed to the database state and the world's largest DNA database (as we have the UK: a million of the entries are held illegally) shouldn't lose sight of the power and value of DNA profiling as a tool to catch the guilty and free the innocent. Where the police have a suspect and other evidence*, DNA evidence can prove the case. It isn't perfect. Mistakes are made. Partial matches can confuse things. It's open to abuse (just because my DNA was at the scene, that doesn't always prove I was the criminal, or even that I was ...
Am having an argument with someone in Another Place about which is worse: smoking or eating at McDonald's. My contention (having seen Supersize Me) is that McD's is worse, because it does similar amounts of harm to the individual, and much worse harm to wider society. His contention is that he doesn't care about wider society, and smoking is worse for the individual. What do YOU guys think? View Poll: The Lesser of Two Evils
Another thing this poxy Glandular Fever is making me miss is this year's Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference which takes place this weekend in Perth. We usually go as a family and it's one of the highlights of our year. I have mixed feelings about missing it - it's the best programme I can remember and it looks like it's going to be really busy, so I'm gutted not to be there. Realistically, though, I know I wouldn't last half an hour so there's no point in whinging. So, I am just going to stay home and watch Comic Relief while ...
Anyone interested in meeting to discuss this? Several parks in Liverpool already have Friends groups and they do seem to make a difference. I'd like to get a group of people together to discuss whether we can get a Friends of Garston Park group set up. I've sent some letters out about this, but given that its impossible to write to everyone who might want to be involved, I am posting here too. If there is enough interest I'll get a meeting together so we can discuss it a bit further. If you think you'd like to take part, even ...
Now don't get me wrong I'm all in favour of Local Councils persuading Central Government to do things differently (targets for Central Government and perhaps star ratings perhaps? snigger) and if Julia Goldsworthy's been involved I know it's reached the limits that the Democratic Centralist Labour Government allows. My problem is whether or not it can [...]
Google dominates the search engine market, both in the UK and internationally. Although there are some countries where a local search service has the lead (e.g. Russia), overall Google is undoubtedly number one. The world however is full of companies which used to be massive, even dominant, but fell from grace. Remember the days when Novell dominated the server market? Or watch Blade Runner and look at the brand names used back then, firms so big that it was easy to believe the future would include them. Names such as Pan-Am. So could Google too fall from grace? And if ...
It is important that the Government tasks the police with investigating the claims by Binyam Mohamed that UK secret services colluded with his torturers. Whether or not there is any substance to the claims is a police matter. There are allegations of MI5 collusion with torture and they must be fully investigated. Jacqui Smith must order police [...]
When the smoking ban came in, Lib Dems were split by the issue. You could legitimately use key liberal arguments on either side. I argued the point against Stephen Williams MP at a student meeting - I opposed the ban on the grounds of individual freedom to wreck your own lungs; he supported it on the basis that smoking in public caused unfair risk to others. We were both quoting Mill's famous harm principle on opposite sides of the same debate! The whole thing was confused even further by the legislation itself, which defined "public place" very widely, including privately-run ...
Carers Forum We were due to be updated on the Better Healthcare Closer to Home strategy and intermediate care for older people but there had been last minute cancellations from both our main speakers leaving a big hole in the agenda. After a bit of discussion Claire Shearer gave an update on the progress of the formation [...]
Politics is a funny old game. Just when you think everything is going well the unexpected comes along and bites you. What is worse is that often the offence you are accused of is spurious, taken out of context or just plain made up, leaving behind the feeling of why bother in the first place. Sometimes a perfectly innocent event such as a fancy dress party to celebrate your birthday, months before you were even elected is blown up out of all proportion and used by your opponents to hit you over the head. It is as if the fact ...
I have just heard from a local resident and campaigner that the application to "spot list" the Garston Hospital building has been rejected. Had the building been listed the PCT were talking about taking their development plans elsewhere (although I am not sure how viable that would have been given the lack of suitable sites elsewhere). What this means is that the PCT still needs planning approval for its plans at the hospital, but that these won't be affected by any listing of the building (although people may still be commenting on other aspects). I imagine a lot of people ...
Local residents who read the letters page of the Prestwich and Whitefield Guide last week (i.e. local Councillors, people who want to be local Councillors, people who wrote that week and were checking to see if their letter had been published, and people sat in waiting rooms) will have seen the following letter which I realise I am now giving extra publicity to: "CONGRATULATIONS to our MP, Ivan Lewis, on his successful campaign to ensure Prestwich has an annual festival beginning this year (Guide, February 20). Ivan and the Prestwich Renewal Commission he established proposed that this should happen as ...
Small person has gone off to school in her Red Nose. Here is something funny: (link here, obtained via caseytalk, here) Shall we go on the honour system? If you watch it, donate to Comic Relief here. In other news, my hideous medical problem which those of you who follow my Twitter stream will have heard allusions to continues apace, and I have to work 8 hours on the busiest day of the week when it's excruciating agony to walk. Hurrah! Not...
So, the UK Tories have now formally told their continental counterparts that they will leave the conservative-christian democrat European People's Party. In so doing they will be the only major party in any EU member state not to belong to one of the EU's major political family groupings. Liberal Democrats could seize upon this move with glee: but that would be to overlook the damage it could do to Britain, especially if the Tories get back into government. Deals are struck before EU summits in the political family meetings: an isolated national party would have very little influence in matters ...
Ok I'm not sure exactly when I'm going to get around to actually blogging about Conference this weekend, although I know me and others will be Tweeting and using the #sldconf hashtag. If all goes well these updates will appear below. Highlights 11:10 Tobacco Vending Machines15:15 An Economic Recovery Package for Scotland16:15 The Future of the UK Economy Scottish Lib Dem Conference
Daily collection of links and thoughts that weren't worth a whole post. 18:57 really enjoying Old Harry's Game, especially the topical stuff, shame the damn CDs don't work in our stereo :-( #OHG # 22:59 is wondering why everyone else has got the shiny new Facebook layout and he hasn't. I wants the new shiny my precious, I wants it # 23:00 just had a comment on my journal for someone searching for Old Harry's Game. Bottom of page 6, that's dedication. #ohg # 23:02 Gah, people are using both #bbcqt and #questiontime for tonight. that's annoying. #Microblogging using LoudTwitter ...
A new report about the policing of the recent Camp for Climate Action at Kingsnorth is today launched by David Howarth, Liberal Democrat Shadow Justice Secretary, with the climate camp legal team. Using eyewitness accounts, supported by video footage, the report reveals the policing tactics employed at the camp, including: · Abuse of stop-and-search...
Last night was a meeting of the Council's Resource and Performance Scrutiny Commission. I am the Lib Dem spokespweson on this group, which is a cross-party collection of Councillors meeting half a dozen (or so) times a year to scrutinise the work of the Council's Executive in their management of Council performance and finance. The major issue of the evening was a review of Local Area Partnerships (LAPs). I have written more about this below. Aside from LAPs, there was a presentation on the Council's Comprehensive Performance Assessment action plan. This was mainly fine, and there has been good progress ...
A large part of David Cameron's job, of course, is getting the balance right between keeping his traditional base of supporters happy, while simultaneously also appearing appealing to enough others to vote for him. In striking this balance, generally his strategy as leader has been to prioritise appealing to the new voters he needs, "detoxing" the Conservative brand, and generally trying to end the image of "the nasty party". Part of this calculation, similarly to Tony Blair in this respect if not in others, is surely that those on the extreme had nowhere else to go. So declaring as he ...
The major item at last night's scrutiny meeting was a review of Local Area Partnerships (LAPs). Anyone who has ever sat through a LAP meeting will know that not all is well in the world of LAPs. They have a tendency to make me want to ram my head repeatedly against a hard surface, and although things are improving and we're finding our way a couple of years after they were formed, there are still glaring problems. For instance, there's sometimes a serious lack of engagement with "partners" who have their own agendas and don't seem to care about what ...
... is now updated and you can see the highlights of Islington's council tax debate here. I've corrected the link in my previous post too; just in time, as the increased council tax bills are now hitting the door mats.
I'm something of a sceptic when it comes to using the Internet for political campaigning. Not that it's a bad idea, but it isn't the panacea some people would like to think. Creating a Facebook group or putting a petition on the Number 10 site may make you feel like you're doing something, but on its own it's just for show. It can even be counter-productive, sucking up people who could otherwise be convinced to do something worthwhile but think they're doing their bit by signing that petition. As Howard Dean said at our Harrogate conference, the Internet is a ...
Dr. Ben Goldacre of badscience.net has a theory (in fact he has many, of which this is but one). The theory is that modern society neglects its nerds at its own peril - that, as he eloquently explains whilst on the loo, by dumbing down coverage of science and medicine in the media we risk engendering apathy and disinterest in those who may no longer be professional scientists but who retain their
{funny pictures of cats with captions} see more Lolcats and funny pictures Niles's Blog has already posted this, but I couldn't resist it.
Evening Standard, 12 March 2009: The head of the council at the centre of the Baby P scandal faces questions today over a series of other child protection failures. Haringey chief executive Ita O'Donovan has held senior positions at three councils that were condemned for failing children so seriously that the Government was forced to intervene. Dr O'Donovan has worked in authorities embroiled in some of the country's most shocking child deaths. She has said she considered resigning over the Baby P tragedy but decided the council needed stability. She was in charge of Stoke-on-Trent council when 15-year-old Gareth Myatt ...
Paddy Ashdown is being interviewed next week by Iain Dale for a piece to appear in Total Politics magazine. Iain's soliciting ideas for questions or topics to cover, so post up your suggestions below.
At FMQ's yesterday Alex Samond tried to claim that Dunning Primary School in Perth was commissioned and built entirely under the SNP administration. Fail! This PDF dated January 2007 lists some key milestones in the work highlighted are 4 stages which may well have started or were planned to before the SNP were elected in as the biggest party on the 3 May 2007. Problem is Alex that information wasn't all that hard to find. So don't try and hide the wool over our eyes when we all can fact check. This was a project already rolling when you took ...
Is there anything we can do to combat global warming other than reduce greenhouse gases? Actions which seek to cool the planet down directly, or sequester carbon from the atmosphere come under the heading geo-engineering. The little bolds and I have been following a series on the Discovery channel on this subject, called Ways to Save the Planet.There are three basic responses to geo-engineering
BBC News has done a good report on the proposed cuts by First Bus, including an interview with Steve Webb. If you missed it on Points West or the evening news, check out the BBC website report here, or click here for a larger version of the film.
