This was the message from the ordination of the new Catholic Bishop of Newcastle today, and it is relevant to the final fundraising event that Sedgefield Mayor held tonight. I want to write about this - but exhausted after a very long day, tomorrow is the same, so hope to write again on Sunday!
Friday afternoons in the European Parliament buildings in Brussels tend to be low-key affairs, as the MEPs have gone back to their constituencies and their researchers are winding down for the weekend. So it was an ideal time to begin the two-day in-depth briefing for 30 of us prospective new MEPs, organised by the European [...]
People living along parts of Bridge Road and near Chessington North Station will receive a consultation in the coming week. This asks your views on a number of proposals: improvements to the rather dangerous Bridge Road/Sopwith Ave junction new bus stop near Parbury Risenew pedestrian controlled crossings near Chessington North Station and Parbury Riseimprovements to the existing...
I did not watch Corden and Horne. Judging by the Guardian's digest of the reviews, I did not miss much. But the reason I did not watch it is that I was sick to death of seeing the trailers for it. It seemed to be advertised every time a programme ended on BBC1. If you see anything trailed that often, you will be put off it. I ignored the third series of Little Britain for just the same reason. By promoting its own product so relentlessly the BBC weakens the case against it taking commercial advertising. And if it is ...
Peter Mandelson took it upon himself today to give a lecture to the few remaining car companies producing automobiles in this country today, advising them to make the right decisions to ensure their futures. I am sure the car industry could barely control their excitement at getting advice from the UK government. What is clear so far is that the UK government have got it so wrong when it comes to supporting industry in this country during the depression and sadly seems so completely unable to recognise successes in other countries. In the case of the car industry, Britain should ...
Over £200 was raised for two women in their 80s from Downham who were victims of a cruel robbery, at the quiz at the Downham Tavern on Wednesday evening. A big thank you to all those who supported the event. Cllr Pete Pattisson
Mike Smithson has identified a fascinating figure from ICM's latest opinion poll which shows that just 18% of Lib Dem supporters want to stick with Labour and 82% want change. This should set off alarm bells at Cowley Street. The Lib Dems continue to spend most of their time attacking the (increasingly popular) Tory Party. They have their heads in the sand. It's Labour that people want to punish. Most people expect an election in May 2010 (I actually think it is possible that it may be earlier if Labour self-destruct). Labour is already polling a good 10-15% behind the ...
Back home and fully recharged #
Around a month ago I blogged about our support for the campaign to save the University of Reading's School of Health and Social Care from closure. Despite the close vote on the issue by the University Senate last week, we learned earlier today that the University Council has taken the decision to close the School for good in 2011. The arrogance shown by the University of Reading on this issue is breathtaking. Students and staff of the School united with politicians of all parties to argue for the University to re-think its decision. A total of 671 individuals signed a petition against the closure. I was privileged to ...
Not my words, but those of the editor of Conservative Home. For the last few weeks, here, here and here, I have been calling on Cameron to sack George Osborne. More and more Tories are now agreeing with me.
It's not often I feel totally dumbstruck by a reply to a thread I contribute to on OUTeverywhere (LGBT social networking site) but felt I had to share as it might shed light as to where we are going in this Country on civil liberties. I posted a thread regarding the trainspotter who was declared a [...]
Crin Antonescu is the new leader of the Romanian National Liberal Party (PNL). He defeated the incumbent Calin Popescu Tariceanu comfortably enough at the party's congress today. He won 873 votes to Tariceanu's 546. Antonescu is an interesting character. He joined the National Liberals in the early 1990s. A former leader of the PNL parliamentary group he [...]
So it's only a hold, in a town council ward, but it's worth recording that the new councillor for Thatcham South is Liberal Democrat Marvellous Ford.
Paul Waugh has blogged today about the question of how long MPs spend in the Commons. As one might expect of a blog which is rapidly moving up many people's 'must read' lists, it's a better piece than many of those written on the topic. He does give few outings to the point that if an MP is absent from Parliament, that doesn't mean they are not working: A combination of generous holidays and reformed hours means that many MPs now have what is effectively a three day week (tho in some cases it is a two-and-a-half day week). This ...
David Heath's Bill to end fuel poverty had its second reading in the House of Commons today. It fell because not enough MPs were there to support it. Although four Cornish Lib Dem MPs were there to back it, the Conservative self-named 'Shadow Minister for Cornwall', Mark Prisk, was absent. Is fuel poverty not something that Cornish Conservatives or their mouthpiece support? It's not as if there was a Conservative whip in opposition to the Bill. Although Private Member's Bills are not whipped officially, there is often an unofficial whip and Labour had something of this sort as two of ...
The strange rules of the House of Commons meant that an attempt by Lib Dem MP David Heath to take forward a Bill to end fuel poverty fell today at the first hurdle. Many Lib Dem MPs, myself included, had returned to Westminster to be present to support this 'Private Member's Bill' which would have put in place measures to ensure that the Government kept to its stated aim of eliminating fuel poverty by 2015. Perhaps not surprisingly, the Government didn't want something that would put more pressure on them to act. But disappointingly, there were hardly any Tory MPs ...
These foreigners appeared here about three weeks ago and have been welcomed by the local population of ducks. I personally think they should pay £50 towards the extra burden they are putting on the scarce resources. By the Way, anybody know their scientific name?
Fri 20th
20:25
Why the smart money won't be on Verhofstadt to lead the Liberal group in the European Parliament
According to the gossip pages in the Brussels-based English language newspaper, European Voice, former Belgian PM, Guy Verhofstadt emerges as an early front runner to lead the Alliance of Liberal and Democrats group (or ALDE) after next June's elections to the European Parliament. It is widely expected that Graham Watson after several years leading the group [...]
The Harborough Mail website has a video of an interview with Vince Cable. It was recorded during his visit to the town yesterday.
On June 4th, the United Kingdom and all other European Countries will be voting to decide who their MEPs should be for the next five years. Here in Scotland, we currently have 7 MEPs, but that will be trimmed to just 6 this time round. I am sure, like any elected official some people could not name their MEPs, however I have been pleasantly surprised how well known our Liberal Democrats MEP, Elspeth Attwooll actually is. I suspect it is because she works hard and also visits so many parts of Scotland working hard on people's behalf, so thank you ...
Today's House Points column from Liberal Democrat News. Student politics If you watched Red Riding you will believe that life in the 1970s consisted of policemen beating people up in semi-darkness. But there was more to it than that - strikes, for instance. In 1972 a group of trade unionists from the building industry were prosecuted after flying picketing around Shrewsbury and Telford turned to violence. Their leaders - Des Warren and Eric Tomlinson - were jailed on conspiracy charges and became known as "The Shrewsbury Two". The affair was controversial in its day, but would be long forgotten if ...
Last night's Ally Pally Board, on which I sit, was a Kafkaesque affair towards the end. But it did result in something of a leap forward, in that we voted to ask the Council to discharge us from our multi-million pound disputed 'debt' to Haringey. It is important for the Palace to get rid of this notional 'debt'. It's now up to the Council to say yes or no to our request. You might think that as Trustees, it wouldn't trouble us to ask someone to drop such a whopping claim against us (ask nicely, of course), but it went ...
Lib Dem MP David Heath's private member's bill to provide help for those suffering from fuel poverty fell in the House of Commons this afternoon. It required 100 votes to pass, which it lacked thanks to the absence of most MPs and the opposition of government whips. The full list of those who did turn up to vote is available in the "Today in the Commons" section of Parliament's website, which provides information before the online publication of Hansard the following day. Amongst those 89 MPs who did bother to turn up and vote for effective measures against fuel poverty, ...
It would appear that this Labour Government is so sold on its rhetoric of 'do nothing Tories' that it is desperate to prove that it is 'do everything New Labour'. Yesterday's announcement of a £50 visa 'surcharge' for those wishing to work or study here is one of those examples where that mania for action is all about show rather than substance. One must acknowledge the background to this decision. Local authorities have been concerned for some time about the burdens caused by inward migration, in terms of additional costs for housing, education and social services. Many have appealed to ...
19) Graham Dwyer and Richard J. Cole (eds), The Hare Krishna Movement: Forty Years of Chant and Change (London: I.B. Tauris, 2007, ISBN 9781845114084). Krishna Consciousness isn't a faith I know much about, and this anthology of articles made a good introduction, as several of them outline the history of the movement. The contributors are a mixture of devotees and outside scholars. I think the best contributions are the last two, ISKCON's Search for Self-Identity and Anna S. King's Thealogising Radha. Reading about the routinisation of charisma in the movement brought back fond memories of studying sociology of religion at ...
Fri 20th
17:24
Well I'll be doggone - Arnold Schwarzenegger goes all weak at the knees in the presence of Obama
Is he in love?California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) was "mesmerized" after President Obama's town hall meeting in Los Angeles today, according to Politico.Said Schwarzenegger: "I've never seen that. Usually people are so guarded. The aides are always so guarded. They're so afraid that you will blow it or that you will make news that's unintended and all those things.""But I think he's so
Harriet Harman writes a letter of apology to actor Michael Sheen after telling him she thinks he isn't as good looking as Tony Blair. The original dig and the reading of the letter are captured on this video of the Five Live Simon Mayo show.I suppose we should applaud Harman for apologising so quickly and sweetly.
I know this may have been covered before yet it's recently raised its ugly head. This is the case of the trainspotter at Macclesfield Station being told that he couldn't video an incoming train as it could be a `security risk`. I don't agree with Norman Baker that it's a questionable activity (blogging can be seen [...]
A big hat tip to Political Betting for the table above as it shows some interesting results for the Liberal Democrats and what they think of Labour and the outcome of the next general election. First of all I would like to clear my position on this whole issue, I believe that the Lib Dems if ever offered to go into coalition they should take the offer only if its from Labour and not the Tories. I suggest that the Lib Dems refuse any offers by the Tories and only consult the members and then take up an offer with ...
I know Gordon will be waiting for this so I apologise in advance for taking so long to write up a blog post. Today Gordon Prentice MP came to Nelson and Colne College to answer the questions of students and personally I think it was a great event and I hope the college and Gordon can organise more events like this. Secondly I think Gordon did quiet well in answering every ones questions, I did not get enough time to get the skeletons out of the closet because of time limitations but overall Gordon was a great guest to have ...
Typing is still slow - so will reproduce extract from press release from someone else: UK Youth, the leading national youth charity supporting 750,000 young people, is today launching a blog which introduces an open forum to discuss youth issues in education and learning by non-formal methods. We want to hear your ideas on non-formal learning and other concerns regarding young people. We hope this blog will create an opportunity to unite our work with those who care about the future of young people and want a say in the direction of youth policy. We are always looking for new ...
Blogging has been sparse the last few days due to unforeseen circumstances - basically fell over on Wednesday morning. I wish it was exciting - but as my daughter kindly said - it was really just 'old lady' stuff. I don't really know what happened - but road contacted face! Contrary to the view that people take no notice - three women came to help me (thank you!). One pointed out that my face was bleeding. Once I established that it was just a scrape down centre of nose - I then realised that my hand was not right. So ...
In response to your question about leaves... ..... . ... After the changes to the new waste policy in June last year and the subsequent decision to revert to a free garden waste collection service at point of collection in November, the Council had to introduce a limit of two 120 litre plastic sacks or three 75 litre green jute bags per household. The number of bags is limited to contain the costs involved and to continue to encourage home composting. The garden waste service will be back again from next month and residents will also be able to buy ...
Despite not being fully recovered from the last one, I appear to have been struck down by some kind of horrific lurgy again today, and feel once more like I've been overcome by angry germs. Still, life goes on, even if it is interspersed with more moaning and groaning than normal. This weekend is of course the great St Mary's Graffiti Community Clean Up Day, on Sunday. We are meeting at 10.30 for an 11.00 start. What better way to tell your Mum you love her on Mother's Day than by whisking her off on a magical mystery tour round ...
Commendations to our good man Sir Menzies Campbell, who yesterday posted the following message of support for the "Trade Out of Poverty" campaign: WE CAN AND MUST TAKE THE MORAL AND POLITICAL LEAD IN TACKLING WORLD POVERTY Our former leader states: We must realise that trade is the key to alleviating poverty in the world. However, he warns that due to the current political climate, trade "is set to decline sharply and it will hit the poorest hardest unless we act now to open up new opportunities." In this vein I would like to urge to you sign a petition ...
Hello friends, Here is the full text of the free trade petition: Free Trade Is the Best Policy The specter of protectionism is rising. It is always a dangerous and foolish policy, but it is especially dangerous at a time of economic crisis, when it threatens to damage the world economy. Protectionism's peculiar premise is that national prosperity is increased when government grants monopoly power to domestic producers. As centuries of economic reasoning, historical experience, and empirical studies have repeatedly shown, that premise is dead wrong. Protectionism creates poverty, not prosperity. Protectionism doesn't even "protect" domestic jobs or industries; it ...
Oh how the Government must love Google's Streetview. It's one of the biggest invasions of privacy we've yet seen in the UK and we're all playing with it! Gordon Brown couldn't have wished for a softer introduction to database Britain. Ah, say Google. We've taken out such identifying details as faces and numberplates because of our very clever software. So there's nothing to worry about. Hmm. Not quite - as a quick play indicates. Here's a fairly clear number plate and here's another And what about faces? The BBC reports a number of images have had to be blanked out ...
OK, so it's a Friday afternoon. I've heard that Lembit Opik now has a column (fnarr, fnarr) in the Daily Sport, which bills him as "Britain's most outspoken MP". So, for your amusement dear reader, I make my way over to that organ to investigate the bedfellows that our might-have-been-president is keeping. Here's what we get on today's Daily Sport website front page: See Sport babe Gabrielle Saint fully NUDE! Don't miss the new Adult Sport, with the pix you've all been waiting for: big boob babe Gabrielle Saint is NAKED! Fact: Blokes prefer thick babes to clever plain Janes ...
Staffordshire Moorlands DC, Leek EastCon 452 (38.7; -7.6)LD Roy Gregg 238 (20.4; +20.4)Ind 197 (16.9; +16.9)Staffordshire Independent Group 189 (16.2; +16.2)Green 91 (7.8; +7.8)[Lab (0.0; -20.4)][Residents (0.0; -33.3)]Majority 214Turnout 30.2%Con holdPercentage change is since May 2007Salford City MBC, PendleburyLab 1055 (38.2; +1.3)Con 874 (31.6; +0.4)BNP 373 (13.5; +0.2)LD Paul Gregory 368 (
As many of you will have noticed I recently added the Total Politics Top 25 blogs widget to the sidebar of the blog so that I could read blog posts easily with the use of the widget but was I wrong. The widget isn't all its cracked up to be and it doesn't have the blogs that I read instead it is a group of blogs that are from Iain Dale's read which is disgraceful. No wonder Iain Dale doesn't have anything worth reading in his Daily Dozen because his daily reads are terrible, because they are part of his ...
Update: Actual result was:Marvellous Ford - Liberal Democrat: 1053 votesConservative: 680 votesLiberal Democrat majority: 373LibDem holdCause: ResignationTurnout 34% (better than last election)Marvellous Ford has won the Thatcham Town Council by-election (Thatcham South ward) for the Liberal Democrats with a majority of 300 plus!This is an absolutely storming result! Many congratulations to
What should the caption be under this picture which is being used as an advert by The Times according to a blog post by Guido. Personally like Guido suggests I think it should say "Wait till you're 65, like I had to"! Why you might ask, because I like many think that Cameron is a political novice and the Country would be destroyed by the Thatcher worshipping Tory if he was to become Prime Minister!
Peter Hoskin's post on Coffee House this morning reminded me about some thoughts I have had regarding the way government is conducted in this country. The main part of his post discusses how Gordon Brown and the Treasury were made aware in 2004 of the shortcomings in financial regulation with respect to Northern Rock but they had not considered it a priority and did nothing about it. This is an all too familiar tale. Sometimes I feel like I have been living in a parallel universe for the last few years. I remember people like Vince Cable and others warning ...
Fri 20th
11:49
Labour's new membership leaflet shows just how unpopular even they think Gordon Brown is
It's a membership leaflet from Labour. One side is covered by a large photo of a politician addressing a crowd. Gordon Brown perhaps? No. Or even another Cabinet minister? No. Or a popular figure from the past? No again. Instead, they seem to have decided they're all so unpopular that the way to get someone to join Labour is to use the picture of the leader of another country: {Labour recruitment leaflet} The reverse does have one mention of a Labour member. Admittedly it's their General Secretary Ray Collins, and he only gets named in the imprint. But fair's fair, ...
Fri 20th
11:39Ministry of Defence under fire following new report into accommodation for the military
The National Audit Office has a new report out which finds that: While 52% of Service families feel their accommodation is in a good condition, 31% are dissatisfied with the condition of their property. The MoD is currently undertaking a programme to upgrade Service family accommodation. In the last two years it has upgraded some 1,700 properties and will continue upgrading an average of 800 per year. At the current rate of upgrade, it would take some 20 years before all properties reached condition 1 (the highest of four standards)... the MoD also has 9,170 vacant properties. This is 18% ...
Watching the Labour Party is rather like watching a completely hapless disaster-prone employee that doesn't understand the consequences of their own actions. This employees' latest action is to press the wrong button on the machine that has stopped the whole system working. In a schizoprenic state alternating between paralysis and as many ideas as possible (however [...]
I hear today that HM Treasury allowed NR to carry on with the `together` mortgages (An apt name as taxpayers own NR and we're all in it `together`). These are the 125% ones that caused the failure of the bank. The thing is who runs the Government? Either Labour were totally incompetent and did a `Myners` [...]
A timely reminder that, just because you read about some seeming miracle cure in the media, doesn't mean it really works. Sometimes they're just made up. Remember this story about magic dust regrowing fingers? It was reported seriously by the BBC and many other media outlets around the world as fact last year, a great medical breakthrough. The only problem was that it was nonsense. There was no science behind it, no published research, just some dodgy photos and an upbeat press release. But sometimes the original story is based on legitimate, published research that just happens to be wrong. ...
Don't forget to turn off all non-essential lights for Earth Hour on Saturday March 28th 8.30pm. We did this last year and even the kids were happy to join in. World Water Day is this Sunday March 22nd and will be focusing this year on transboundary water systems and sharing resources. 'The flow of the water is always to the sea, whether over rapids or through slow pools, the journey is the life of the river and the ocean is where the river becomes one with all rivers, regardless of where they started or what they became.'
I've been struck this week by a new theme going on in British politics. It seems that the public have finally dismissed new Labour as the party to win the next general election. There now seems to be an air of `who else is out there?` This seems to have been dramatised by two events this week: 1. [...]
We've been taking a look around the New Covent Garden Market, which borders Oval Ward on the Wandsworth Road, and hearing a bit more from the New Covent Garden Market Authority on the future plans for the market site. They have yet to draw up detailed plans but they have now got Government approval to provide a new market on the site and will be seeking a private sector partner this year. As always, our concern as local councillors is that the local community must not be forgotten as these plans are drawn up and must be fully consulted and ...
Best google logo EVAR! In celebration, have some Mitch Benn:
Test Valley Liberal Democrats plan to consult local residents on proposals to implement additional recycling facilities across the borough.Test Valley Borough Council currently operates an alterative bin collection system (ABC) where household waste is collected one week and recyclables (paper, card and some plastics) are collected on the next week. Unlike some councils, TVBC does not collect glass. The council has considered and rejected a door step collection of glass because of costs but Lib Dem councillors have asked for officers to look again at the possibility of a small scale trial or collections in urban areas only. Lib Dem ...
Following complaints from residents about uninsured and unlicensed motorbikes using Dark Lane between Andover and Enham borough councillor Len Gates contacted police and neighbourhood wardens for action Patrols were increased in the area and as a result two offenders were issued with warning notices. Police are confident they have solved the problem in the short term and that the offenders will move on to more suitable locations. In the meantime they are continuing to monitor the area. If you see a repeat of motorcycles using the lane or any other footpath please advise the police on 08450 454545 or dial ...
The south leg of Tay Square will be closed for traffic for one day this Sunday (22nd March) and again for single days the following two Sundays (29th March and 5th April) to enable telecommunications ducting works to take place. Pedestrian thoroughfare will be maintained throughout and the one-way order relating to Tay Square will be suspended during these three Sundays to enable traffic to exit Tay Square.
The campaign guru behind the campaign run by the Tories at the 2005 general election is to consult the new Libertas party in their bid to win seats at the next European parliament elections in June this year. Lynton Crosby the man who I and many others except for maybe Tory bloggers and CCHQ workers have no idea who Crosby is but to know that he is the success behind the Tories in 2005 looks promising. Campaign consultation is an interesting market to be part of, personally I think its good to see that Crosby isn't pouring his talent down ...
I would like to doff my hat to the conservative local government for the brilliant Teflon distraction of public opinion. Who now remembers the complaints about their poor handling of the previous consultation? It is naive to believe that public opinion was the only reason the consultation was repeated at great expense. Our elected councilors did not do their homework and arrogantly thought they could wing the test. When l read the second consultation paper I was angry: it was biased towards the eastern option; it did not include any real information to support their assertions; I did not understand ...
Daily collection of links and thoughts that weren't worth a whole post. 12:46 drinking coffee and pondering writing up a post on baking bread. As requested. By a professional chef. Scared now. #Microblogging using LoudTwitter and Twitter. matgb_twitter is there if you're mad enough. Hopefully I've fixed the recursion problem, and if you'd rather this was cut, then editing your LJ code to do so is easy.
The Conservatives held the Leek East by-election on Staffordshire Moorlands Council but the Liberal Democrats had a very good result in second place.
The Iraq war started 6 years ago today. A few weeks before, I'd been one of the millions marching against the invasion of Iraq, an immoral and illegal war. But I had no illusions about Saddam Hussein; and I still hoped that some good might come from this evil, in the form of a better, [...]
Yesterday The Guardian ran a piece from Nick Clegg on Barclays and its attempts to keep secret details of how it goes about reducing the amount of tax it pays: Yesterday Barclays may have won on a point of law. But it cannot run away from the wider point of principle: now our whole banking system relies on the support of British taxpayers, how the banks run their business is our business, too. So long as these banks are sustained by explicit or implicit Treasury guarantees, they have no right to deprive the Treasury of money by running circles round ...
Busy day today so not much time for blogging. I am just about to head off to the Vale of Glamorgan Hotel to introduce and take part in the second Welsh e-democracy conference put on by Ofcom and the Assembly Commission to spread best practice and to learn from others. There is no truth of course in the story that the venue was chosen in the hope that those organising the conference might bump into the Welsh rugby team so as to wish them all the best for tomorrow, though it goes without saying that we are all rooting for ...
Craig Murray writes on his blog: The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights has agreed to hear my evidence on torture on Tuesday 28 April at 1.45pm. Many thanks to everyone who helped lobby for this.I am delighted, as I have been trying for over four years to lay the truth about British torture policy before Parliament. I will testify that as British Ambassador I was told there is a very definite policy to accept intelligence from torture abroad, and that the policy was instituted and approved by Jack Straw when Foreign Secretary. I will tell them that as Ambassador ...
The Open Rights Group blog has the story, pointing out how the deadline for comments on the Digital Britain Report was followed so swiftly by a press release that it's hard to believe that the views submitted by people to the consultation were really considered: Last Thursday the Open Rights Group along with many others made a submission in response to the Digital Britain Report. In that submission, we said: This action has the potential for much harm. We call on the final Digital Britain report to reject the idea of a ʻrights agencyʼ. Less than 12 hours later, we ...
Last week Willie Rennie MP blogged about the disproportionate charge that a mutual building society such as the Dunfermline Building Society were facing as a result of the fall out over Northern Rock. The fact that Dunfermline have not shifted from their key business as a savings and loan mutual means that their current difficulties shows the systemic failure of the Government to act responsibly in this current economic crisis. As Willie pointed out the government was treated everyone the same both high risk banks with heavy investment portfolio and low risk mutuals providing customers a safe mortgage system. The ...
Is there any chance of people not getting hung up on whether Gordon Brown, David Cameron or, for all I know, our newest national politician Peggy Mitchell, have apologised for fucking up in failing to spot the impending economic crisis. I don't care. I really couldn't give a toss. When I'm deciding which people, and which party, is best suited to run the country, I'm really not interested in who screwed up and managed to say sorry. Because, when the next problem hits us, I want the people running the country to spot it ahead of time and do something ...
On Wednesday this week the Council's planning committee voted to close The Castle Pub in the Bathwick Estate by voting through a planning application for two houses to be built on the plot. What is most hypocritical is that the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate Fabian Ritcher is picture in his latest propaganda outside of it as part of a story to save local pubs, meanwhile the Conservatives on the Council once again voted in block to close it. Cllr David Dixon said, "This is just another example of this Ritcher bloke jumping on the bandwagon on an important local issue in ...
Are you sitting comfortably (having recovered of course from the power of Kirsty's performance in Harrogate)? Then let's begin by opening our books to the odds of the One Wales Government lasting the month... The Civil War Of Unit Three Plus One To begin at the beginning, back in October an independent review recommended abolishing the grant that Welsh students studying in Wales receive to negate
Welsh Lib Dem Conference takes place in the Barcelo Cardiff Angel Hotel between the 17th and 19th April. If you are a twitter user the hashtag to use is #wldconf. For those of you who aren't twitter users and would like to be, grab me over the weekend and I'll set you up. Twitter worked well at Harrogate for federal conference. For activists it could have lots of interesting applications both to
See story on Peter Black's blog.
In planning my 2009 agenda for the six months to the elections I allowed as many Mondays as possible in my constituency. Thus this week I was able to open the new Liberal Democrat office in Gloucester with Cllr Jeremy Hilton before speaking to the young ladies at Cheltenham Ladies College under the delightful Miss Matthews. Since I had a couple of hours to kill between the two events and it was an unseasonably warm, gloriously sunny day I took a stroll around the Gloucester docks renovation project, admiring the use of EU funding in providing housing and office developments ...
