Tomorrow's papers are apparently full of revelations regarding Sir Fred Goodwin, the man who liked to be known as Fred the Shred for his costcutting. Apparently various newspapers and the Lib Dems have found out that his office was decorated with wallpaper costing £1000 a roll, his limo bill per month was £100,000 and on top of this, in the very height of decadence, he liked his fruit to be flow in on a daily basis from Paris. Isn't it about time he was referred to as Fred the Fraud ?
Here is your chance to win a copy of Eamonn Butler's book The Rotten State of Britain. Just email me the answers to the following five questions before 23:59 on Wednesday 1 April 2009: In which town was Adam Smith born? Which Scottish Football League team plays its home games there? Who was arrested outside the entrance to Downing Street on 18 June 2006 for carrying a placard saying: "In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act"? What is the name of the proposed government database that will hold details of every child in England? ...
Today, after a bad start to the day, Grace and I headed off to the Local and Family History Fair at Hall Place. It is the first time I have seen the restoration, and they really are superb. The fair was well attended, but could have done better with betetr advertising. There were stands there representing various areas of the borough - as well as Bexley Civic Society, the Friends of the Red House
The winner is [X-Factor-esque pause] The Daily Telegraph for: Injured Judi Dench withdraws from Madame de Sade
In Hungary, of course.
The bookshop Housmans will be holding a special event next week with guests Peter Facey (Director, Unlock Democracy) and Anthony Barnett (co-founder, Charter 88 and co-director of the Convention on Modern Liberty). Event information: Wednesday 25th March - 7pm Housmans Bookshop 5 Caledonian Road King's Cross London N1 9DX Tel: 020 7837 4473 Free entry Nearest tube: King's Cross St Pancras If you're in the area, why not drop in?
{march-focus-web.jpg} All, The latest Shipston Lib Dem Focus has been uploaded here. As you know, it is delivered (and paid for) by local members and supporters, so you should be seeing your copy delivered to your house over the next couple of weeks. This month's issue has articles about the response so far to our supermarket survey, the Conservatives' refusal to lower council tax and support a 'one stop shop' in Shipston and Richard Cheney letting us know about some of the work he's been doing. Please feel free to read it - and above all, let us know what ...
If you were paying attention last week, you'll know that the Independent ran a story about a survey in which my home area of Mid Suffolk came out as the place offering the best quality of life. By co-incidence, last evening I was in the place which is, apparently, the second best - namely South Cambridgeshire. The Chair of the local party, Peter Fane, is an old friend, so I was quite happy to accept his invitation to visit the area and meet the members. A late afternoon drive through the Suffolk/Cambridgeshire countryside got me to the lovely village of ...
Alex Singleton has written a wonderfully charmless little attack post on about the state of Lib Dem blogosphere (it is always nice to find an article like this has been written by someone I have already dismissed as an idiot). Leaving aside the usual crap about the Lib Dems not standing for anything (bizarrely, he seems to think that Cameron's Conservatives are a good example of a consistent party - clearly he has never read ConHome - in particular he clearly hasn't read this article about the Tory's own internet fail), one can marvel at the sheer ignorance about the ...
SOUTHPORT MARKET SET FOR 21st CENTURY Thursday's decision to give the go-ahead for a multi-million redevelopment of Southport's Indoor Market has been warmly welcomed by Birkdale's Lib Dem councillors. Sefton's ruling Cabinet agreed, on a cross-party basis, a major redevelopment scheme at its meeting on 19th March Birkdale's Councillor Simon Shaw is particularly pleased that the Council have decided to go for a comprehensive scheme of redevelopment rather than the basic refurbishment agreed in principle last July. Simon says that the scheme now agreed very much shows the vision which he first publicly called for in August last year. Simon ...
This morning's Western Mail contains more details of the unease that exists within the ranks of Plaid Cymru about the decision of their Assembly Members to abandon the party's opposition to top-up fees and sell-out students. They reveal the existence of an internal discussion paper that sets out the consequences for the party of abandoning their policies and their principles: The Plaid discussion group paper states: "Plaid candidates and activists are lobbying AMs to vote against the Labour motion. "Falling in behind director of elections Adam Price, they are fearful that target seats will be lost. "Prime fear is that ...
Halfway between Kingsbury and Creeting St Peter is the railway station at Whittlesford Parkway, a fact which, until recently, had no particular value to me. Until last night, that is, when I found myself on the 17:28 service from Liverpool Street to Cambridge. It's not a journey that I've made very often, and certainly not recently, but the route up the Lea Valley is pretty enough once you get beyond the London suburbs and a pretty good sunset meant that I could look out of the window and enjoy the scenery. Darkness fell as I left Essex and entered Cambridgeshire, ...
I have read some articles and blog posts in the last few days that have got me thinking about newspapers and their future. When I was growing up, they were really the only written source of daily information available (apart from the very short entries on teletext). If you wanted to find out what was happening and weren't near a TV, you bought a paper. The world today is very different. There are a plethora of online sources that I can go to in order to get my information about what is happening in the world. I have an RSS ...
Not a Sunday tabloid headline, but an enjoyable day in the Whelan household! Friday was a memorable day for two reasons. As I've previously confessed, I'm a closet biker but have not passed my test despite owning a Virago 750 cc for an embarrasingly long time. It sits in my other half's garage waiting for me to bring it back to it's rightful home 12 miles away! Well, with the sun shining and all the spring flowers in bloom I have dusted off my visor and got back on the road - Friday seeing me out doing my first Direct ...
Part Two of what I've been up to in a nutshell ..... Barton A great Triumph! The Highways Department, having been out to walk the village with the Parish Clerk and myself, have agreed that the High Street is in a truly terrible state - so they are putting in a capital bid for the complete resurfacing of the pavements and sorting out the sorry state of dropped curbs. It has been neglected for many years now so I feel very pleased to see it finally getting some TLC. In addition I'm working closely with Robin Paige and others to ...
Two weeks ago, I wrote a brief post on the launch of a new initiative called the Jury Team. Edward Walker, a Jury Team primary candidate for the European elections asked what I think now, a few weeks on. So far, three London candidates have put themselves forward for the London Euro contest. They have some votes but not many. Given that the organisation was only launched at the beginning of March, it is far too early to tell how successful it will be. Clearly it hasn't unleashed hidden enthusiasm for independent candidates yet. But these things take time. If ...
I'm hugely interested in using language that is appropriate for the audience. After all, I earn my living writing books, mainly for young people. Back in 2002 I took on a Council portfolio that included Communications, and the first thing I did was to introduce the Better Letters Campaign. This encouraged all council officers to use Plain English in letters to residents, and gave...
This Thursday, David Cameron announced that an incoming Conservative Government would have to make tough choices. Public spending would be cut and taxes might rise. Conventional wisdom has it that there won't be a general election until 2010. The Tory leader is aware of that. So in one sense, there was no rush to discuss the difficulties his Government will probably face. Labour have already been framing the Opposition as a danger to public services. This line of attack has worked well for the Government in the past but this time round those advising Cameron think things are different. Whether ...
{IMG_1590} This morning, following our surgery, Kirsten and I went for a stroll around Hexham Road estate in the sunshine. It was good to be in the open air, talking to constituents and picking up issues. It's something we like to do as often as we can and people really do like to see their local councillors in the area. The photo above depicts a grass verge on Newcastle Road which we got the Council to protect following problems with cars parking there. This is an ongoing issue on the estate due to lack of adequate parking for residents. There ...
In the last few days, there have been two stories featured in the news that have something in common. One was about a local litter problem and the other about the re-establishment of mutual societies. You are probably wondering what on earth connects these two. The answer, I think, is that they show us what can happen when individuals decide to take action and organise locally. The BBC reported that Yvonne Froud was so frustrated with the litter caused by her customers that she is asking the children to write their names on the wrappers of sweets they buy with ...
Being the second in an occasional series for people who've got here looking for things I haven't yet helped them with. Here are search terms that have arrived here in the last week, and my advice to them: what film should i watch? Doctor Strangelove. It's very funny, and directed by Kubrick, and Peter Sellers is great [...]
{smiley} In an effort to forget the woes of the recent by-election in Pendlebury, I elected (no pun intended!) to take the other half for a meal and film at our local cinema. Regrettably, I selected 'Watchmen' despite the wife warning me the feature had not received particularly good reviews. I generally do read cinema reviews before choosing which film to go and see, but I recall having seen a trailer for Watchmen at a previous cinema outing. The trailer seemed to offer something different - a dark tale, where superheroes are a little less 'super' and rather more 'damaged.' ...
Iain Dale and the rest of the Tories enjoy bitching about the idea that Vince Cable is getting a lot media attention because of his economic knowledge and George Osborne is missing out which is leading them to blog posts like this. In the blog post Iain Dale does raise a question which is "So where were you in 1997, Vince? Come on, tell us". This leads to Meral Ece to leave a comment on Iain Dale's blog saying "Think you'll find Vince was the newly elected MP for Twickenham, not part of a government that brought us the last ...
Mrs Justice Parker, sitting in the High Court, made the decision to allow a nine-month old child to die a few days ago. I feel for everyone involved - the parents understandably wanted their little baby to live and I very much doubt the judge saw deciding who should live and die as part of the job when she signed up. And in one of life's little coincidences, just after reading about it, I saw Jennie talking about holding a wake for a nine month old baby in her pub. I'm in no position at all to comment on the ...
Would the Real Fiona MacKenzie Please Stand Up will be a night to remember at the Eden Court in Inverness next month as three singers, all from the Isle of Lewis and all named "Fiona MacKenzie", will be performing. As someone who has been mistaken online for other 'Alison Wheeler's the idea of getting together sounds great. In my own case I didn't really know much about my own namesakes until I started receiving phone calls from Germany and Austria asking if I was the new singer for The Beautiful South. Not having sung in public since I was at ...
Gosh, this is hard work... First you have to take the pictures. So far that's not a big problem - I've already taken the ones I've got lined up. Next you have to pick just which bits of them to use. In principle, that's not difficult, but to do it you have to know how to work the program you use to do it. Then you have to decide just how it will fit alongside the text - some pictures fit best across the whole width, some look good on the right, some are better on the left. Once you've ...
Today is a lovely sunny day in Darlington. I'm at work in Post House Wynd. Just round the corner on High Row the BNP have set up a stall, and have tied a Union Flag to the High Row steps. There are about ten of them handing out leaflets.I was alerted to this by a friend of mine who is a pharmacist on duty today in Rowlands Chemists, outside which the BNP are distributing their nasty literature.
I've been involved with Unlock Democracy and one of its predecessor organisations, the New Politics Network, for a few years now, after their Director, Peter Facey, asked me if I would be interested in getting involved. Given my long-running interest in the workings of our democracy, and twenty-five years as a jobbing Returning Officer at student union and Party levels, it was an easy offer to accept, and I've served on the Council of the two organisations since then. However, last month my level of engagement rose to a new height, when I became a member of the Management Board ...
Iain Dale reports how Gordon Brown might be thinking about creating 20 more Peers and personally I think this is ridulous. The Lords is the most corrupt part of politics probably in the world with every government just throwing its cronies in their so they are supportive to them when it comes to passing bills up a level. I like many believe the Lords needs to be an elected house with a set amount of seats which are lower then the Commons, and it should be used as the Second house like it currently is. If Brown was to add ...
The pub I work in is not very far from the local crematorium. This means that on a fairly regular basis we host wakes. Yesterday's was the most harrowing one I have ever been involved in: the deceased was a nine month old baby. Never has the barmaid's role as unofficial counsellor been more difficult. And I bloody needed a drink after work. My apologies, therefore, for not answering emails etc. yesterday. I did get reminded of a very cool thing yesterday too, though. Our local Tesco's petrol station is built on top of the local nuclear bunker. Somebody had ...
I am pleased that the City Council has responded to my concerns about safety at the former Homebase site in Riverside Drive, following the developer at the site going into administration. In recent weeks, I have been inundated with residents' complaints about the mess around the site's periphery - including graffiti - but also about safety concerns regarding the temporary pathway the developer (Duncarse Residential, now in administration) had constructed on the northern edge of the site to replace the original pathway linking the West End from Riverside Approach to Tesco Riverside and the City Centre. I was never happy ...
Enjoy it here. I am reminded of an observation from David Cook's novel Second Best: What did I suppose "good parents" were like? The woman mimed quotation marks by lifting both arms into the air and twiddling her fingers. This was something I would later notice social workers doing frequently.
Those nice people at East Midlands Trains have directed me to this page.
As the world descends and travels into the catastrophic circles of economic chaos, globalisation seems vulnerable and suffering from nationalist rhetoric. With a growing centralised global economy, with major intuitions - such as the World Bank and IMF - is it time for the United Nations to overseas global economic and financial responsibility? This is not a winsome notion, we are reaching the next geopolitical evolutionary steps for our civilisation and global federalism will eventually creep its way on to the international stage. Of course, the general public of the United States will be hostile to any bureaucratic institution that ...
In the past I have reported doubts about the effectiveness of the government's Sure Start programme. The recent Commons health select committee report on health inequalities looked at this question. Here are its conclusions: 137. The early years period was emphasised throughout our inquiry as a crucial focus for efforts to tackle health inequalities, and we commend the Government for taking positive steps to place early years at the heart of the health inequalities agenda through Sure Start. Many witnesses were very positive about the benefits of Sure Start. National evaluation shows that it has enjoyed some success, but it ...
Having spent the last few weeks blogging about whether cancer screening is worth it, I do of course get scooped by Ben Goldacre over at Bad Science. Ben writes about two recent studies into screening for prostate cancer. Remember how I was saying the downsides for screening can outweigh the benefits? Ben reports that one study suggested 1410 men would need to be screened to prevent one death. For each death prevented, 48 people would need to be treated: and prostate cancer treatment has a high risk of very serious side effects like impotence and incontinence.Think about that for a ...
If your MP could help pass a Bill in Parliament which could save lives, help the poorest people in Britain, help in the fight against climate change, and what's more create jobs in a recession, don't you think that would be worthwhile? I do, and that's why I backed the Fuel Poverty Bill introduced by Liberal [...]
Percy has acquired a girlfriend - or could have if he was interested. For the last week or so, a very pretty cat, with lots of fluffy caramel coloured hair and big blue eyes, has been sitting on our garden wall wailing amorously. She's sweet and affectionate to humans too, so our attempts to shoo her [...]
I am extremely proud of the Pope speaking out today against corrupt governments in Africa, on the same day Kofi Annan echoed similar beliefs. For a moment I was concerned that it would be another "contraception-dominated" Papal visit, where the Church focuses on the (relatively) meaningless world of sex. I accept that in Africa, sex, linked closely to AIDs, is a major issue, but elsewhere in the world, it seems the Church speaks about sex and little else. Not so, this time. A strong, hopeful message to the people of Africa. And a much-needed one. Catholicism is an extremely potent ...
The Government has listed as Grade II buildings, six prefabricated huts that were built after the war in Catford, South East London. I am just grateful that cavemen discovered fire and new construction techniques before the need for an organisation called 'English Heritage'. We'd still be living in caves if English Heritage had their way. Have these people not heard of progress?
