I went up to see Dagenham & Redbridge v Brentford today. I was really looking forward to it, for it was my first competitive away game in quite some time. The journey up there was long, well over an hour on the District line. It was also going to be shown live on Sky Sports as well. As I got there I saw that things weren't quite right straight away. It was too dark for one thing. I got to the away supporters end only to find hundreds of Brentford supporters milling outsdie. I didn't know it at the time, ...
I think the mass of British people have had it up to hear with sanctimonious voices telling them what to do. I think the latest green paper on a `bill of rights` stating that there should be a different balance between rights and responsibilities. Can you imagine any worse people to tell people what to do [...]
I love the way the press has linked Nigel Griffiths' romp with a suspenders wearing brunette to Tony McNulty's care for the elderly scam. "War on greedy and sleazy MPs" declared the first edition of the Evening Standard before refining their front page headline in their later editions to "House of Sleaze: MPs face probes on homes and sex in the Commons." The first person to tie the stories together seems to be Lib Dem blogger, Irfan Ahmed, who is genuinely appalled that MPs shag in their office, although more out of respect to the institution of Parliament than the ...
Scrutiny Overview Committee The main item for consideration at this meeting was the Council's Ten Point Plan for supporting businesses and residents during the economic downturn. Corin Thomas and Gill Bull were the council officers in attendance to answer member's questions. The committee learnt that an Economic Support Task Force made up of representatives from the business [...]
Back to work with two meetings this evening. There is nothing to fear but fear itself # Earache - ouch!!! # Tonight's agenda - Home, tea, bus, groundfloor meeting, bus, scout rd grp meeting, home, pay babysitter # All done ... Time for a glass of wine #
On Saturday night, rather late, I posted a story about how Iain Dale really didn't get it when it comes to Vince Cable. Due to the lateness of the day and a lack of sleep, I didn't really go in to the depth of research I my normally do. In short, I cocked up with some of my facts, perhaps made worse by the fact that when adding an update in Sunday I didn't check up on Peter Lilley and the fact that he had actually been shadow chancellor. Iain Dale actually contacted me to point out my error, and ...
I'm back in London after a weekend at the country estate, made more pleasant by some sunshine. With the improved weather comes an opportunity to take a walk, and so Ros and I set off out of the village on the road towards Stowupland. My back is playing up a little, so we took it easy as we strolled in a northerly direction. As I've noted in the past, the scenery isn't exactly spectacular, although it is peaceful, and the land gently rises and dips, so that you don't get the kind of 'arable prairie' that appears in other places. ...
The Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Wales Roger Williams MP has criticised the decision by the independent Committee for Standards in Public Life to review MP's expenses by suggesting that the answer is already staring us in the face."It shouldn't take a Committee to tell you that it's wrong for London MPs to claim a second home allowance - even Tony McNulty has admitted that his
{IMG_4499} Last July we launched a campaign in Redlands to get some pot hole ridden streets resurfaced after Redlands was overlooked again by the Council's highways department. Glenn, Kirsten and I have been regularly reporting pot holes across the ward, such as Donnington Road (pictured) and the situation is getting better not worse.This year once again the Council has failed to programme in overdue repairs for our area so our campaign continues. We are collecting signatures for our petition to get the following roads attended to by the highways team as a priority: Blenheim Road, Carnarvon Road, De Beauvoir Road, Donnington Gardens, Hatherley Road, Hexham Road. We ...
This report has received a lot of press coverage today. You can find an executive summary and the whole report on the Trust's website. I also recommend a post on Lib Dem Voice by James Graham.
The title says it all - Paul has the news.
The Western Daily Press reports on major job cuts within First: "Some 1,100 bus jobs will have gone by March next year in the UK and a further 600 jobs will go in the rail division, which includes the South West-serving First Great Western, which operates out of London Paddington" Is First imploding, we have to ask? Is its management in panic mode? Our local service cuts are just part of a national programme to slash services and reduce costs. The same day as our cuts were announced, more services were axed from Ipswich to East Lothian. First's share price ...
I was really impressed with Boones' Chapel when I visited it as part of Open House London. When I visited in September, it hadn't opened since 1945, but the opening intervals have since got a lot shorter, and it's now open on a regular basis. This Saturday and Sunday it's open 12 til 5 for an exhibition on drawing tools. The flyer i've got says: Is it a surprise that the pencil had as radical a change on architecture as the computer is having now? Three collections of drawing tools from the last three centuries are displayed with drawings. The ...
I was not at all surprised to read the findings of the Joseph Rowntree Report into government databasestoday. Nor was I surprised that the government rubbished it. But I was surprised at the sheer scale of surveillance, record-keeping and data-hording that the report exposed. Thousands of databases, costing billions of pounds, keeping records on millions of us, often without our consent or even our knowledge. I won't rattle off the statistics in the report, because you can click to read them yourself. But yet again the government are exposed as controlling, secretive and in denial about the incredible amounts of ...
My fingers are no longer yellow, which is a relief. Yesterday's graffiti clean-up resulted in the chemicals reacting with my gloves and turning my digits the colour of daffodils. I have sacrificed much to my party over recent years, including any semblance of a normal personal life. I draw the line at dyeing myself yellow. But thankfully, my skin has returned to its traditional pallid and uninteresting state. And, I suspect, the walls I cleaned have been returned to their graffiti-ridden state. It's been 24 hours after all. Not much earth-shattering to report from the ward today. The daily bloggings ...
I leave the country for just three days, and come back to find that, in my absence, the Tories have fallen to bits over tax. I must try this going away lark again, some time. (What do you mean, post hoc ergo propter hoc?) Of course, it's possible to claim it's all a storm in a teacup: that (i) George Osborne's announcement that the Tories will go into the next election promising to raise the top rate of tax, and (ii) Ken Clarke's declaration that their inheritance tax cut for the rich was an "aspiration", are merely a case of ...
The BBC reports: A paper in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine says eczema is thought to be a trigger for other allergic conditions.GP records of over 9m patients were used by researchers to assess how many people have the inflammatory skin disorder.It showed that by 2005, one in nine of the population had, at some point, been affected by eczema.The highest rate was in boys aged between five and nine.An Englishman's Castle, ceasing upon the report's suggestion that one explanation for the rise is increased frequency of bathing and use of soap and detergents, declares: Poor bloody ...
A recent discovery of mine is the website of the Association of Former Members of Parliament, which is hosted by ePolitix. The plight of former MPs is not one to attract public sympathy, but they can have a hard time. In a Guardian article in 2004 Michael White quoted Joe Ashton: "It's not like losing your job in a factory, when everyone loses their job and rallies round. You may be living in a rural area, no contacts, no way to keep in touch. You can be lonely and isolated, your kids may be slagged off at school or even ...
Because I was so knackered last night my Sunday video has become a Monday video - or a Monday audio to be more exact. It is time to continue my way circling of The Beatles with another cover version. A year ago it was Across the Universe by Laibach: tonight it is The Jam. In fact, an authoritative comment on Youtube suggests that this is not by The Jam so much as by Paul Weller. This is a demo version with him playing all the instruments. It reminds you that his demo is the classic version of That's Entertainment. Whoever ...
Jo Swinson, Liberal Democrat MP for East Dunbartonshire has long argued that we should look not just at how much money our economy produces but how well and how satisfied with their lives our citizens are. She has just been elected Chair of the new All Party Parliamentary Group on Wellbeing Economics. Good luck to her in this new and important role - another area in which we desperately need to get our priorities right. There's an interesting article in today's Guardian on the subject. LibDig This!
Tony McNulty, the Minister who has pocketed £60,000 by claiming expenses for a second home which he does not live in is write when he says he has broken no parliamentary rules. But so wrong when we look at what he has done as Joe Public. The man in the street does not care that he has followed some archaic rules which allow some MPs a way of legitimising fraud on a massive. What the ordinary voter wants is MPs who understand what is right and decent and more than that, what is honestly earnt and honestly claimed. So he ...
Daily Telegraph, 12 December 2008: "Recession pulls hemlines down". Daily Telegraph, 6 March 2009: "Hemlines rise during economic downturns". But perhaps it is neither up nor down? Daily Telegraph, 5 February 2009: "the relationship between fashion and the economy is often more subtly complex than that". Never let it be said the Daily Telegraph doesn't cover all the angles.
Following on from yesterday's post about how the Government is keeping track of people who order vegetarian meals on flights as this apparently indicates potential terrorist tendencies, the lovely Dr Pack has made this short film outlining all the dodgy things he does in his life which could arouse the Government's suspicions. I can think of one more - what ideal cover it would be for a potential terrorist to work for a liberal and democratic party so perhaps all Lib Dem staff should be tagged as potentially dangerous. Or maybe all Lib Dem members - and then we are ...
As promised earlier I have worked out the average poll results for February and you can see the results below. When making your own judgment from the results please bare into mind the fact that both Nick Clegg and David Cameron have taken time out in the last month from politics because of a sadness and a happiness. Labour 28% Tories 42% Liberal Democrats 18% Personally I think the Lib Dem result is average but it still is a result that the Lib Dems should not be proud of. The party needs to be getting results that are above 20% ...
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) have launched, for Valentine's Day, a light-hearted online poll which looks at some of the nation's favourite buildings. This poll is not just about architectural merit but more about the emotive power of buildings; about what gives some places that certain je ne sais quoi? Fourteen buildings have been shortlisted - traditional...
An exhibition of political and satirical cartoons will be on display at Bath Central Library from April 1 - 12. The exhibition has been organised by the Bath & North East Somerset Council- run library in partnership with Bath in Time and the Bath Comedy Festival. Many of the 50 or so cartoons are rare and will not have been seen before, making the exhibition of interest...
The dates for the Westmoreland PACTS have just been released for the year ahead and are as follows. Wednesday 8th April 2009 Oldfield Park Baptist Church 7pm. Thursday 24th September 2009 Oldfield Park Baptist Church 7pm. Thursday 22nd April 2010 Oldfield Park Baptist Church 7pm . Thursday 30th September 2010 Oldfield Park Baptist Church 7pm.
The number of women being admitted to hospital for alcohol poisoning in the last five years has almost doubled - with a 90% increase, figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats have revealed. The data, released in answer to a Parliamentary Question also shows: There has been a 66% increase in the number of 14-17-year-old women admitted for alcohol poisoning in the last five...
In advance of the G20 London summit, the Liberal Democrats have today [Monday] challenged the Government to deliver a 'G20 Compact' to protect the developing world from the effects of the global financial crisis. Launching Development in a Downturn: Dealing with the Global Emergency, Liberal Democrat Shadow International Development Secretary, Michael Moore has set out a ten point...
Commenting on today's [Monday] Joseph Rowntree report criticising Britain's 'database state', Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said: "This damning report exposes how the Government's obsession with hoarding our personal information has turned Britain into a database state." "In their desperation to track our every move, ministers have created a glut of databases,...
A list of some of the most dangerous routes used by Heavy Goods Vehicles being directed by satellite navigation devices across the country was released today by the Liberal Democrats. The devices frequently direct large vehicles down narrow roads where they can become stuck or hit low bridges. The party is calling on the Government to take action to ensure the devices take...
Commenting on today's Ofgem announcement on proposed new rules for energy suppliers, Liberal Democrat Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Simon Hughes said: "The present system for setting fuel prices is very confusing and very unfair." "Today's Ofgem proposals are a step in the right direction. There can only be a fair deal for consumers if the choice between different...
The Liberal Democrats today tabled an Early Day Motion calling for the second home allowance to be abolished for London MPs. Liberal Democrat Shadow Housing Minister and Brent East MP, Sarah Teather, who tabled the motion, said: "It is completely unacceptable that London MPs living within commuting distance of Westminster are allowed to claim money for a second home....
Commenting on the news that Mark Haysom, the Chief Executive of the Learning and Skills Council, has resigned following the collapse of building projects at a number of colleges, Liberal Democrat Shadow Innovation, Universities and Skills Secretary, Stephen Williams said: "This programme has been poorly managed and it is right that Mr Haysom takes responsibility." "However, the...
A good performance from Nick on today's PM programme as the main interviewee on the MPs expenses row. Here's why. He didn't get caught up in details or parliamentary jargon. He kept it simple and, crucially, related to the experiences of ordinary people. Clegg's main point was that millions of people commute into London daily; if they can manage it, why shouldn't Greater London MPs be able to do it too? He also came out against rolling the money into MPs, basic salaries - rightly pointing out that the public would be less than impressed if MPs awarded themselves a ...
It's great to see that we are taking to lead on the second homes issue. Peter Hoskin has reported this today on the Spectator Coffee House blog. Sarah Teather has released a statement that says: "It is completely unacceptable that London MPs living within commuting distance of Westminster are allowed to claim money for a second home. Thousands of Londoners travel to work in Central London every single day, so why on earth shouldn't their MPs? The London second homes scandal doesn't just damage individual MPs, it damages Parliament and our democracy. It's time that Parliament cleaned up its act. ...
Reporting on the Liberal Youth elections was quite challenging and tough for me. I'm not naive enough to have thought that politics was an easy thing where everyone loved each other, but to see people that should be working together tearing each other apart in the kind of attacks we should be aiming at those with opposing views is horrific. Liberal Youth is currently unable to become a respectable and effective organisation as a result of the bitter in-fighting. This is a great tragedy. I myself have been challenged by what I've seen and heard and it's made me wonder ...
On the left is Luton North Labour MP Kelvin Hopkins. According to the Mail on Sunday, Mr Hopkins has claimed a relatively modest £8,894 in second home allowance over the past 5 yearsNow, I caught the train up to Luton and back this morning, it really is very quick, and the trains are frequent and run until very late! So I can understand that Mr Hopkins wouldn't be charging much.On the right is
At last! A party press release in my inbox that I haven't already seen on a blog and which doesn't make me go "fnrrr, suppose so". The Liberal Democrats today tabled an Early Day Motion calling for the second home allowance to be abolished for London MPs. Liberal Democrat Shadow Housing Minister and Brent East MP, Sarah Teather, who tabled the motion, said: "It is completely unacceptable that London MPs living within commuting distance of Westminster are allowed to claim money for a second home. Thousands of Londoners travel to work in Central London every single day, so why on ...
Spot on and funny. It's no wonder that young people love it. According to reports about young people by middle aged people. Here
The great Tom Lehrer famously said that Kissinger receiving the Nobel Peace prize in the aftermath of the Vietnam war made satire obsolete. The Guardian appears to be doing it's best to make taking the piss out of greenies obsolete in a similar way. "Look how stupid we're making ourselves appear," it cries out "You evil multinationals might as well give up now; there's no way you can make us seem any more foolish." I can think of few other explanations for today's Ethical Living column, where Ed Gillespie tries to make a serious case for shaving being bad for ...
I got an email asking me to turn up to a briefing at the enclosed address. I fed the information into the 'sat nav' which promptly rejected it-'no such address' and offered me a range of alternatives. As I knew roughly where I was going I set off. Arriving at what I thought was close to my destination I noticed my colleague Mike Booth wandering around. He looked as if he knew where he was go. I parked up and went to join him. It transpired that he was as lost as I was. There was certainly no number relating ...
From time to time I appear on various television programmes being interviewed about Central and Eastern European business issues. Usually it is Bloomberg TV, sometimes CNBC or CNN or, as today, on the BBC. Being a "talking head" is a rather odd existence. Usually you only have about three minutes to try to convey often very complicated issues to a journalist who may still be struggling to understand how to pronounce people's names, never mind understand how they fit into the bigger picture. It is something of an art and rather tricky to maintain fluency when it is important to ...
Political Betting has pointed me to a Poll Tracker tool by Sky that I am going to start using and at the end of a month I shall display the average poll results of the previous month and I shall then focus on the Lib Dem result. I shall publish the February result either later on today or tomorrow!
The tills are ringing nonstop downstairs as the good people of Darlington come in to stock up on Carlin Peas, also known as Maple Peas or Black Peas, in preparation for Carlin Sunday this weekend, the Sunday before Palm Sunday.The source of the tradition of eating Carlin Peas on this Sunday appears lost in the mists of time, though a popular tale is that Carlins rescued the city of Newcastle from
My stomach is still appreciating the delicious LibDem constituency meal at the Greenwood Community Centre in Chiswell Green on Saturday. The hall was full to capacity with guests enjoying an entirely home-cooked meal - a duo of pates or cooked red peppers, followed by coq-au-vin or spinach and goats cheese tart, and brownies & ice cream or fruit salad to finish. They don't do things by halves in St Stephens! The main speaker was Lord McNally. But just as much excitement was generated by the table challenge. Each table was given a cardboard tube, a plastic cup, sellotape, sheets of ...
No, you didn't read that wrong. That's really what our lovely government has decided, courtesy of its system for keeping tabs on people who take flights: "'Suspect' requests likely to cause innocent holidaymakers to get 'red flags' as potential terrorists include ordering a vegetarian meal". You could smile and move on to read about something else. You could get angry and move on to read about something else. You could wonder quite what a paranoid conspiracy theorist would have to come up with these days to exceed what our government is actually getting up to. Or you can do something ...
I just got a call from a distressed friend. She left her bicycle at the Wendover train station tied to the racks near the guard's hut. When she returned form Aylesbury she found all the racks were uprooted and the bicycles leaning on the fence. Naturally I rushed over with a camera and had a chat with the Forman - Dave. According to him a sign informing of the planned work was hung last Friday. However, both my friend and the guard insist there was no sigh this morning. The half dozen bicycles I saw leaning on the fence attest ...
Congratulations to the Friends of Kennington Park following the opening of the park's nature trail and the official opening of the playground last Saturday. We all attended the opening day, and enjoyed the stalls and the band! It was great to catch up with the Friends and their latest news and as local councillors we will continue to do all we can to support the park. We were joined by our local Parliamentary Campaigner and member of the London Assembly, Caroline Pidgeon.
Following Ken Clarke's comments at the weekend about inheritance tax (he said that fulfilling their pledge on reducing the threshold was not one of their main economic goals) Iain Dale has said that it is a minor gaffe, he should just concede so and move on. That is fair enough as far as it goes but it does demonstrate what I referred to a couple of months ago, that he is not exactly in lock-step with the Cameron leadership. Dale also says that Clarke was not quite up to speed with the fact that the IHT policy was actually a ...
Its good to see that the blogosphere on a whole is a vibrant place as I have recently discovered the blog of Labour blogger Yousuf Hamid. Yousuf Hamid is a Scottish blogger who blogs about anything political and I do have to say he is an interesting read at time! Because he has a link to me on his sidebar its only right if I link back to him, so that's what I am going to do. I shall add him a link to the sidebar!
If you thought things couldn't get any worse, then this weekend's Observer brought the news that Agadoo - voted the worst pop song ever - is due to be re-released. What made this news even worse was that reading the article then meant I had the song going round and round in my head for the [...]
Alasdair Wood's article for a Liberal Youth online magazine was not published so he has blogged about it and provided a link to it which you should all read by following the link! Personally I am getting a little bored of the executive and the whole Liberal Youth election as it has become a more cat fight then an internal party election with people like Guido Fawkes even poking fun at the party because of it. I have had too much from this whole election, I have voted Sara Scarlett and I do hope she gets elected. If she doesn't ...
How absolutely wonderful. What fun. As the news unfolds about Labour MP Tony McNulty's expense claims, we learn that 20 other London MPs are claiming "second house" expenses.
No doubt the Association of Chief Police Officers had good 'policing' reasons for, in 2004, banning serving officers from being members of the BNP. No doubt also this decision was promulgated throughout the police service nationwide. The sacking of a BNP member from Merseyside police is thus a simple matter of industrial misconduct. The BNP is, however, a legal, legitimate political party. Despite its' abhorrent views, as Liberals we should be very careful about banning its' members from employment & other public functions. The voters are not fools. The more the BNP is allowed to open its' mouth the more ...
During the Unlock Democracy debate at the Convention on Modern Liberty last month, Justice Minister Michael Wills defended the growth of the database state by arguing: "We've heard a lot of about datasharing today. But that datasharing, that so many here today say is an unacceptable intrusion of privacy by the state, can actually help thousands and thousands of children who are eligible for free school meals but don't get them at the moment... Look, it's all very well for you to sit here. You've probably all had a hot meal in the last week. One in five of the ...
Local councillors must, by law, live (or have a business interest) in the borough, district or county that they represent. In fact, they cannot even stand as a candidate unless they meet the residency criterion. That rule does not apply to Members of Parliament, hence the row over Labour minister Tony McNulty's expenses. In my view, there should be an expectation that MPs should live...
Ken Clarke says that changes to the inheritance tax regime are now a lower priority for an incoming Conservative administration. They are, he says, an 'aspiration' and 'not something we are going to do the moment we take power'. George Osborne says that it will be a manifesto commitment, and that it is 'a promise we will keep'. Putting aside the fact that it is one of the precious few commitments that any Conservative has made on anything, it demonstrates the ongoing tension between George and Ken and, in turn, between the Conservative frontbench and Conservative activists. And this is ...
South Glos is currently consulting on its Homelessness Review. Tomorrow (Tuesday 24th March) there will be an open meeting from 2pm - 5pm at the One Stop Shop in Yate to discuss any issues or concerns.
James Graham has blogged in the past about how he thinks Lembit Opik should start blogging and I have agreed with him for some time. I personally think James is doing a great thing by campaigning via his blog to invite Lembit into the blogosphere but the problems lies is James welcoming Lembit or scaring him away with his blog posts. Personally I think Lembit should start blogging, with this in mind I shall be contacting him very soon to pitch the idea to him and I shall also inform him that a lot of the people on the Lib ...
Daily collection of links and thoughts that weren't worth a whole post. 11:28 Buy this Rover. Or at least read the eBay description tinyurl.com/daxcda (via: @snapesbabe I don't RT) # 15:04 lacking motivation. To make up for this, I am going to go bake bread, and photograph the process. #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.
NHS cervical cancer screening is one of those rights I'm keen women should have, less keen to exercise myself. But when my latest reminder arrived, I phoned within minutes and had my checkup within the week. Why? Well partly because of Jade Goody. Her openness about her terminal illness showed better than any public health [...]
This is a tale of two comedies. One I expected to like and didn't, the other I'd no idea about and loved. First up, you can't have failed to miss the news that lovable duo Horne and Cordon have a new comedy sketch show on BBC3. If only I had missed that news. I wouldn't have been suckered into watching something pretty poor and I could have held onto the high opinion I have of the duo from shows like Gavin and Stacey. But I had to sit through a bizarre opening to the show with James Cordon bouncing around ...
Over to the other side of Wolverhampton yesterday to give Stephanie Kerrigan and the Liberal Democrats in Ettingshall a hand before Thursday's by-election.
iPlayer is the business for 6 Nations fans prevented from live match watching by small kids - avoided news, enjoyed every min of Wales v ...
The first wild crops of the year are now available and amongst them is wild garlic. I picked a bag full from one of the local woods on Saturday. First on my list of recipes was wild garlic pesto. We had it with home made pasta on Saturday. This was the first outing for our pasta machine. All worked very well. Our newish environmental regime means meat is eaten on only special occasions. So
Over the past couple of weeks I have had a number of complaints about the smell coming from the Riverside Civic Amenity Site, primarily - it would appear - because of work associated with the "Discovery" composting operation. Having raised residents' complaints with the City Council, the Waste Management Department has given its apologies for any smell nuisance - partly as a result of the turning of windrows (rows of hay) and partly as a result of shedding. I have been assured that every effort is made to ensure that work of this nature is carried out only when the ...
Writing in the Guardian, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has added his support to the growing chorus of voices demanding that the needs of the world's poorest to be placed at the heart of international efforts to stabilise and boost the global economy. With unemployment and financial hardship at home making the headlines, we cannot and must not overlook the potentially enormous problems facing the developing world as a consequence of a situation for which they are entirely blameless. Last week the G20 finance ministers met in Sussex to set the agenda for the forthcoming London Summit. Although it was ...
Mark Pack at Lib Dem Voice posted on Friday a copy of a Labour recruitment leaflet that contained no mention of Gordon Brown. The only photo it contained was of Barrack Obama, not only leader of another party, but leader of another country! Clearly Labour seemed to believe that Gordon is a disincentive to people to join.I was able to have a look at the leaflet (Mark is after all based at the next
A couple of days ago I re-posted a list of reasons why David Morton says he is a Liberal Democrat. I thought it a gently humorous list and thought others would get the joke. At some point I will post my own list, but I liked the general thrust of David's comments. To my surprise it evoked a series of furious responses from one Neil Craig- see comments under the relevant post. Usually when people throw around words like "Fascist" and Nazi" they tend to be foam flecked lunatics who typically post anonymously. Most often I would tend to delete ...
This morning's Western Mail highlights the danger of dictating local policies from the centre. Further it also shows that when one starts to set standards that everybody must follow the exceptions can be fairly bizarre and not a little embarrassing. In this case it is the Assembly Government's flagship scheme to remove unhealthy snacks from hospital vending machines that has come under the spotlight. It seems that under the rules a white bread sandwich filled with reformed ham would be acceptable but a wholemeal cheese and tomato sandwich, regarded by most as the healthier option, falls foul of guidelines used ...
Even though he is fourth on the list of Labour European Candidates and has no chance of being elected, Leighton Veale has a whole page of the Western Mail devoted to him this morning. His crime is allegedly that he has been drawing allowances to serve as a councillor in the London Borough of Merton while working for a charity in Cardiff and living in Neath. We are told that Mr. Veale does not sit on any committees but attends full Council and took part in the budget process this year. He uses e-mail and the telephone to deal with ...
I am not a complete Libertarian, though I have a lot of sympathy for those that are. I think it is interesting that some Libertarians are trying to claim the name "Liberal" for their ideology, and I have sometimes observed that Libertarianism and Liberalism have a fair deal in common. I think where the two positions differ most fundamentally is over the role of the state. Liberalism does not automatically regard the state as a negative force. There are some limited areas, generally concerned with natural monopolies where Liberals believe that the state is an unavoidable presence and even a ...
Oh dear. The News of the World carried news yesterday that Edinburgh South MP Nigel Griffiths appears to have had sex in his House of Commons with a brunette on Remembrance Day. Today the Scotsman reports that although this may not be the only incident that the Edinburgh South CLP are standing by the man who held a 405 vote majority in 2005. The following quote from the paper shows how concerned they must be about the seat in the next 15 months. "It is understood that party leaders believe Mr Griffiths has a solid personal vote in the Edinburgh ...
Following several weekends marred by increasing amounts of severe anti-social behaviour in North Road ward, spreading out from the Albert Road Bridge all the way up to the Burns pub carpark, this weekend has been quiet. On Friday night I spent a couple of hours riding around the ward, and the police were out in force. Two bobbies on bikes, two in an unmarked police car and a mobile HQ parked on
