Welcome to your sneaky guide to the best of LDV from the last fortnight. In Op-eds, we had a round-up of polls after previous Labour governments from York Membery. Jock Coats told us of the opportunity of a lifetime to build anew, build better. Cllr Jenni Clutten asked whether we can trust our young people and Gareth Aubrey asked whether we can win them. Our MP for Taunton Jeremy Browne penned a piece to explain why he was one of only two Lib Dem MPs to vote against allowing the Youth Parliament to meet in the House of Commons and ...
Worked lots. Was busy. Changed lots of barrels. Hugged Alfie. Dashed home. Had bath. Got to pub for ten and had beer and then brandy with mum in celebration of her natal felicitations. Evening marred only by someone reading out the racist "jokes" he had received by text message and mum killing herself laughing at them and everyone else being really confused as to why I didn't find them amusing. Still, obviously I'm just weird. Mind, when I got home, wife had made ginger biscuits, which are very yummy and cheered me up immensely. Time for more brandy, I think. ...
Amidst the wide-ranging activities that Mike Dixon had arranged for Ros and I in Birmingham was something a little different. Usually, we do Party oriented things, (P)resident surveying, or a dinner, but this time we were taken to see a new short term care and rehab centre, built under the Liberal Democrat joint administration. Cllr Sue Anderson is the Cabinet member for Adult and Community Services, and is justly proud of the effort that has gone into creating the £11 million facility known as the Ann Marie Howes Care Centre, in Sheldon, deep in Hemming territory in Yardley. We were ...
The very last farewell to Sedgefield Borough. We thought we had said our farewells but today's event was an extra, and a very moving one. We were at Locomotion :National Railway Museum at Shildon where the very first passenger goods and then passenger train ran from (for the pedantic, the goods train was Shildon to Darlington to Stockton, and the first paying passenger train from Stockton to...
When I wrote to John Lyon, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, to ask why it was nearly a year since my complaint about Derek Conway and nothing had happened, I received a reply which to paraphrase said: "I will do it at my own speed, I won't tell you what is going on, and you can't complain to anybody about my conduct". It took exactly a year for a conclusion to the complaint, which I
From the tranquility of Rugby to the more hectic pace of urban Birmingham for an activity day, organised by Mike Dixon, who works for our Group on Birmingham City Council. Our first stop was in the Jewellery Quarter, where we met Dave Nikel, our prospective candidate in Ladywood ward to visit some retailers and small businesses in the area. Feelings were mixed, with some businesses faring reasonably well, but others concerned that a lengthy recession will create casualties. In the company of Cllr Ayoub Khan, a Cabinet member and our PPC in Birmingham Ladywood, and Morriam Jan, our prospective candidate ...
{John Whitehouse on the Kenilworth Greenway} The first day of British Summer Time and the sun shining, so what better way for my wife and I to spend the afternoon than walking along the Kenilworth to Berkeswell Greenway, part of the Connect2 Kenilworth walking and cycling route? It was great to see so many people out enjoying themselves, including lots of children on bikes with their parents. This is exactly what safe off-road cycling is all about. I can't wait to see the whole of the rest of the route completed. Up towards Burton Green we looked out over the ...
Today is the 548th anniversary of the battle of Towton, fought in a snowstorm near the village of Towton in Yorkshire. The victor was Edward IV, then just short of 19 years old, and having only inherited the claim of his father Richard Duke of York to the throne 3 months earlier. That might be a cause for celebration, except that two Hothams, father and son, lost their lives on the Lancastrian side. It was estimated that 28,000 men died that day, the largest ever loss of life in a battle fought on English soil, see www.towton.org.uk/
It's the 1960s. London is swinging and lion cubs play in the King's Road. Here are the Rolling Stones in 1967, with Brian Jones on piano. As one of the comments on Youtube says "Let's Spend the Night Together" makes "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" seem very tame. In fact, at least according to Wikipedia, the suggestive lyrics have on occasion got the Stones into trouble: In one of the more famous examples of musical censorship, on The Ed Sullivan Show, the band was initially refused permission to perform the number. Sullivan himself told Jagger, "Either the song goes or ...
Yet again MPs are in the mire because of the astonishing behaviour of a Labour minister. The "mistaken" claim for two adult films just adds fuel to the fire set by Jacqui Smith's dodgy claim that her sister's home was her main residence. Last week it was another Labour minister Tony McNulty claiming expenses on his parents' address eight miles from his own home. Ms Smith has been quick to apologise for the "oversight" and will refund the money. I imagine there will be a certain froideur in the Smith household for a period. But even when claims are "within ...
Cllr Pete Pattisson inspects one of the boarded-up properties. Lewisham's Labour-run Council's has left a community housing association with a £2million hole in their budget. Investigations by Liberal Democrat councillors have exposed the shortfall, which occurred when the Council transferred its properties in Whitefoot, Downham and Bellingham to Phoenix Community Housing Association in December 2007. The Council estimated the cost of re-furbishing boarded-up properties on Woodbank Road and Undershaw Road, would be in the region of £7000, but when Phoenix carried out its own surveys the costs were around £100,000, far in excess of the 'estimates' provided by the Council. ...
{Gritter similar to the one I saw last night!} Do Urban Vision know something that even the Met Office don't? I was utterly amazed last night to see a brand new Urban Vision gritter (similar to the one on the above picture), gritting Salford's roads. As I drove towards Sainsbury's to pick up a few late afternoon snacks, I first noticed the gritter on Ordsall Lane (where it meets with Liverpool Street), because it's flashing lights were operating. My first thought was, hmm, they must just be taking this shiny, new gritter back to the depot, but no - as ...
Tom Brake MP, one of my previous brood when I was one of the Lib Dems London Campaigns Officers has done another first. A surgery on Facebook, see his poster on the left. This was a surgery that Tom held on Facebook last Friday and has been blogged about here. Well done Tom, another great idea. Tom Brake is often at the fore of new initiatives and finding ways to reach out to his constituents including a meeting organised via Facebook only last week - in the same week as the Facebook surgery.I have known Tom now for nearly 10 ...
It wasn't me guv, honest!
Tuesday 31 March 200908:15 Subordinate Legislation Committee (Committee Room 3)Instruments and draft instruments in respect of which the Assembly is not invited to pay special attention under Standing Order 15.2Consideration of Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning BillBusiness Rate Supplements Bill: consideration of Draft Report09:20 Legislation Committee No.5 (Committee Room 3)The
If the Government was to force the sale of the Dunfermline Building Society it would be a betrayel of 130 years of mutual borrowing and saving tradition - and of the hundreds of people who work for the society. The Government has contributed to the difficulties at the society, through the 7.2m pounds compensation levy and excessive capital requirements, and therefore must accept some responsibility to save it. There is an offer on the table from the UK's building societies which would inject finance into the society so keeping mutual and independent. This is Gordon Brown's building society. He should ...
Bonuses have been in the news a lot recently. The accepted view appears to be that to provide a bonus to a member of staff is fine as long as it is rewarding success and not failure. In fact, if governments had not moved in to bail out some banks, the rewarding of failure may have remarked on and annoyed some people but that would be all. What really led to the recent indignation was the fact that taxpayers' money was going towards providing bonuses to staff in 'failed' banks. As a parenthesis, one thing that hasn't been explored is ...
Oops, I forgot to post this photo of all the folk who turned out for the charity walk yesterday.
When South Beds run Conservative council announced traveller sites for Houghton Regis, even the Lib Dem Councillors that represent Houghton Regis residents had to find out the news from the local newspapers. The plans to establish new travellers sites were presented at Executive Committee on 13th January 2009, and quickly distributed to local newspapers. The announcement was swiftly followed by waves of angry phone calls from Houghton Regis residents to your Lib Dem councillors. The decision to make the announcement was made by a core of Conservative councillors who control the running of South Beds District Council. Lib Dem councillors ...
A number of residents have contacted us to raise continuing concerns regarding the safety of the junction of Alexandra Rd and Addington Rd. This area was marked as "no loading" following a campaign by Daisy last year. Unfortunately a number of visitors to the area continue to ignore this restriction. Earlier this month, to work to resolve the problem, I met with a group including the Police Inspector and Sergeant responsible for the area, the manager of Parking Services at Reading Borough Council, and representatives of the local community. Following this meeting, it was agreed there will be a targeted ...
A number of residents have contacted us about the mess around Cintra Park, in particular the fouling of the footpaths by dogs belonging to inconsiderate owners. After contacting the Council this week about it, I got the following reply: Following a visual inspection of the area we have arranged for the litter picking team to clear the area and for a mechanical sweep to remove the dog fouling.We have also developed additional procedures to help maintain the area. These are: · During the normal working weeks the footpath will now be litter picked twice a week ...
There's something oddly, uh, gratifying about today's revelation that the nation has been paying for Jacqui Smith's husband to watch porn. In case you've been busy with F1, the boat race, large amounts of roast food and sundry other matters, here's the story from the Beeb: The Home Secretary's husband has said sorry for embarrassing his wife after two adult films were viewed at their home, then claimed for on expenses. Richard Timney, who is also Jacqui Smith's parliamentary aide, said he understood why people might be angry. Ms Smith said she "mistakenly" claimed for a TV package when billing ...
It appears the rules on advertising condoms and abortion advice on television will be relaxed to tackle teenage pregnancy (and with condoms the spread of HIV/AIDS and other STIs, in contrast to the Pope's views). Clearly efforts to tackle teenage pregnancy and STIs is needed, the UK has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates.
I've spent the weekend geeking out at the latest BarCampLondon in the lovely new offices of The Guardian by the canal at Kings Cross. Two days with lots of meeting people, talking about tech, food, politics, and anything else the attendees feel like talking about. I ran a session on Stalking for Beginners which was actually more about choosing and using an online handle. What does it say about you if you always use the same name for all services, indeed should you have your 'business life' easily associated with your 'free-time activities', and how can you stop that happening ...
{Canal Clear-up} Nicholas Coombes joined local volunteers and British Waterways to clear up the Kennet & Avon Canal in Bathwick. The volunteers picked up 20 sacks of rubbish from the towpath and verges between the Bath Locks and Bathampton. Finds included a trolley and TV aerial both secreted in the vegetation below Sham Castle Lane. Marker posts and information boards were re-painted at the stretch opposite Sydney Buildings. "Volunteering projects like this are really good," said Cllr Coombes. "A few hours work for fifteen people has made a real difference to our area. It was warm and sunny which helped ...
Will the Home Secretary's presumably frosty relations with her Husband make her claim that her main home is her sister's flat in London much more believable? Use one scandal to deflect from another, New Labour's playbook.
The ongoing (and increasingly comical) debate over MPs expenses has split the political establishment down the middle. There are broadly three camps. In one are the majority of the public and Micheal Winner, who think that MPs are (delete as appropriate) thieving/cheating/lying bastards who've had their noses in the trough so long they've forgotten what the world is like. Eric Pickles did not help this. The second camp are the Eric Pickles' of the world, who feel they can justify the regime as it stands, and why its OK for you to need a second home if you live 30 ...
It's gong to be a bit of a bitty blog for the next few weeks as went back to hospital for X-ray on Friday - only to be told that bone in hand is broken. So am now plastered - so to speak - which makes typing a pain. Am hoping to find someone to take dictation... Anyway - highlights: - the Government on Friday talked out the Bill that my colleague Evan Harris introduced on the royals being able to marry Catholics and women not being shunted out of line to the throne by boy children. Government says it ...
I was doing some Obama googling last night and stumbled upon this gem from the Washing Post. Its a floor plan of Obama's West Wing, which if you're a fan of the West Wing (the TV show not the building) will cause all sorts of compare and contract analysis. For example, the Chief of Staff's office is not next to the President's, who has a study (the lack of a Laptop in the Oval was alwasy going to be a problem). Its interesting who does have direct access through an internal, David Axelrod, Obama's campaign manager and top political advisor. ...
Sun 29th
17:08
Showing posts for query lait. Show all posts Tories on the take: the South East London belt of shame...
The Mail on Sunday has picked up on the Telegraph story I posted on last July about Bromley Tory MPs and the ACA.£100,000 for flat nine miles from Commons Expenses: Jacqui Lait and her Beckenham flat, nine miles from WestminsterSenior Tory MP Jacqui Lait has claimed more than £100,000 in second-home allowances on her constituency base nine miles from Westminster. Ms Lait, until
I can only assume that the media outlets have fallen into line with Mandelson over the Jacqui Smith affair. Mr Quist quite rightly pointed out the futility of the tittle-tattle regarding the two vids. The story the BBC and ITV (a guy on OUTeverywhere pointed this out) SHOULD be emphasising is the one about Harry Cohen [...]
I appreciate the dilemma. MPs' expenses are the news story de jour, with allegations a-plenty about certain MPs taking tens of thousands of taxpayers' money and a juicy story pops up about a senior government minister's hubby watching skin flicks on the taxpayer's dime. Yes, it's all good knock-about fun, but lets be serious for the moment. Unless pay-per-view porn has got an aweful lot more expensive than I remember it being, we're talking about less than ten pounds. Not exactly in the same league as ex-Conservative MEP Den Dover, kicked out of the party after being asked to repay ...
I don't think I shall ever match the prolific blogging capacity of the County's Chief Executive, Mark Lloyd, but a second blog entry today as I am bursting with enthusiasm having finally mastered the art of the U turn on a motor bike. It turns out that all that was needed was a slightly smaller bike - now that I'm not on tiptoe, and the centre of balance is better, I feel in control of the bike rather than it of me! All suddenly becomes clear as to why I'm so confident riding the bike and why I turned into ...
A toons I'm loving at the moment: Can they do great pop - yes they can! I cause havoc - they cause Pandemonium
Just had a few minutes on the BBC's politics show at lunchtime to float an idea that could make a real difference to households threatened with repossession or in other financial need. This coming year, it is expected that around 70,000 families could lose their home through repossession. Many of the same households will have one or more member who has a pension scheme which will eventually pay out a substantial tax-free lump sum on retirement. But under present rules, that money cannot be touched. On retirement it can be used for a world cruise, to pay off a mortgage, ...
I've asked the question about why the BBC have headlined two videos on the taxpayers' expense and not Jack Cohen's outrageous second home allowance. I've also asked why they never mention that NO Lib Dem London MPs claim ACA.
Political Betting has an interesting post about the market of the seat that is currently held by Labour MP Jacqui Smith who today has become known for porn subscriptions from her house. The odds shown by Ladbrokes on the market are very interesting and I think they are worth a look. Personally I think the seat will be won by the Tories at the next general election as hinted by the betting market and even if Jacqui does win it will be a matter of votes that makes the decision. To check out the market follow the link!
See here First click on the link Then click on `links` in the banner Then click on `google news server` You get all about Harry's £300,000 home!
I have just been watching a repeat of the documentary The Lion Cub from Harrods through the snow on Channel 5. You can view it on the station's website. There is also a book on him: A Lion Called Christian. And the Youtube clip that made him famous again after 40 years is here (but turn the sound down).
Liberal Democrat Voice is running a poll asking who the LibDems should support in the event of a hung parliament. It gives three options (plus don't know/other): a) The winner of the popular vote ; b) The winner of the most seats; or c) Neither: we should oppose whatever the circumstances. Now, as a woman with an opinion [...]
Back in January I posted about how for all Brown's supposed political acumen he seems to have a knack of shooting himself in the foot. I cited the examples of the government's bullish predictions for the economy recovering from recession half way through 2009 (although announced by Darling he was doubtless a cipher for Brown). This always seemed very unlikely and they will have these predictions thrown back at them time and again in the run up to the next election. I also referred to his constant claims to have abolished "boom and bust" through years of boom until we ...
As those of you who have followed me last week on Twitter and and Facebook will know, I undertook a survey of a complex of WWII tunnels in Newhaven last week. The tunnels, known as HMS Forward, runs for about 400m and they are about 60 feet undergound. I have placed some photos of the [...]
Just been watch Jim Faulds currently still the Chairman of the Dunfermline Building Society at least for today quite rightly getting angry at the way the Government has dealt with this scenario. He has accused the Treasury of being economic with the actualité. He said that unlike Northern Rock they did not have a Sub Prime Mortgage issue. That the losses that Dunfermline were going to announce of £26 million were less than the £36 million that the Chelsea Building Society lost in Icelandic institutions alone. He also said that there was no exposure to the US toxic debt. Stating ...
In Peter Oborne's column in the Mail yesterday he reported the following: At the end of 2006, the Bank of England pension fund made a sudden and very extraordinary decision. It sold all the equities in its portfolio and invested them in index-linked gilts - even though it realised that such a move would increase the annual cost of the pension fund by some £45million. Looking back, this was a brilliantly farsighted decision because shares have since fallen in value by almost 50 per cent. It seems clear the the Bank of England fund managers understood the nature of the ...
Following the recent Maryfield Ward by-election, I commented in the 'Civic Scene' column in the "Evening Telegraph" that the way by-elections are handled under the Single Transferable Vote system can result in a total distortion of proportionality. The SNP has the support of fewer than half the voters in Maryfield but now has all the seats - so where's the proportionality there? I have expanded the point in the latest "Haggis, Neeps and Liberalism" item on Liberal Democrat Voice (Haggis, Neeps and Liberalism is a new-ish regular update from LibDem bloggers in Scotland and it was sort of my turn ...
In today's Observer, Barbara Ellen adds her opinion to the never-ending debate about the classification of rape. Barbara says I'm an old-fashioned girl and I happen to think that rape is just rape. It's the crime of forcing someone to have sex against their will, whether this occurs in a dark alleyway or on your sofa. Why, then, when rape is the most black and white of crimes, does society continue to insist on greying (blurring, over-complicating) the issue with a nonsensical concept such as date rape?Yes and no.Whatever we call it, it seems to me absurd to claim that ...
{Ros Scott with John Whitehouse} I attended a fund-raising dinner in Dunchurch on Friday evening, where the guest speaker was Baroness Ros Scott, who became national President of the Liberal Democrat party in January 2009. What an inspiring person she is! Having left school at sixteen and married young she got into local politics as a young mother, got elected to first the district council and then the county council in Suffolk, and rose to become group leader during the period of joint control with Labour until 2005. She was made a life peer in 2000. Ros gave us all ...
It's a beautiful day today - one of my favourite times of year because I love seeing all the local villages in bloom with lots of daffodils. The hedgerows as you pass through Toft are just spectacular. Well worth a visit if you haven't seen them. Last night was a late night as I hosted an evening for those new folks who are standing to be a County Councillor in the elections on June 4th. In keeping with others turning their lights off for an hour to highlight how we waste energy; we spent a twinkling evening by candlelight. I'm ...
{Community Speed Watch in action} On Thursday I attended a meeting with Warwickshire Police and County Council officers, to agree the basis of a new joint "Community Speedwatch" scheme to be piloted in Kenilworth and Nuneaton from 1st May. If the pilot is successful it will be rolled out across Warwickshire. Details will be announced shortly. I chair the local Safer Neighbourhoods sub-group that has been focusing on speeding issues in our area, and we have been active over recent months in gathering evidence and data in order to prioritise the locations to concentrate on. As soon as we have ...
When STV isn't actually proportional ... The Scottish Liberal Democrats very much punched above their weight during the two terms of the Labour/LibDem coalition in the Scottish Parliament - 1999-2007 - and one of the major successes of the second term was the introduction of Single Transferable Vote for Scottish Local Government elections, starting with the May 2007 election. Coalition government does require compromise on the part of the partners and in order to gain the support of sceptical Labour backbenchers (who really did not want a change from first-past-the-post) the new STV wards were set at 3 and 4 ...
After England's thumping of Slovakia yesterday I went to a fundraising Curry for Jerry Evans, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Birmingham Hall Green, where party President Baroness Ros Scott was the guest speaker.
{Connect2 Kenilworth - Walking the Route 1} On Wednesday I arranged a walk along part of the route of the new Connect2 Kenilworth walking and cycling route which is currently under construction, supported by Sustrans and the Big Lottery. The local press reporter and photographer came along together with Sustrans representatives and a number of local Steering Group members. {Connect2 Kenilworth - Walking the Route 2} It was really good to see progress being made along a number of stages of the route, although it is still early days in the project of course. There has been a lot of ...
This is great and it is not a hoax either. Thanks to Iain Dale for drawing it to my attention.
This was the week that... · HSBC became the latest company to make cuts - 1,200 jobs are to go [more] · Business leaders queued up to warn that Britain cannot afford another fiscal stimulus [more]; [more] · The government confirmed there will be an Iraq War inquiry, but suggested it will be held in private [more] · A UK bond auction failed to find enough buyers for the first time since 2002 [more] · The split between the Prime Minister and the Treasury began to widen [more] · The Parliamentary Standards Commissioner launched an inquiry into a minister's expenses ...
As the Sunday Times reports: LORD MYNERS, the minister in charge of the government's assault on tax havens, has used a blind trust to conceal £250,000 of his own money in an offshore shelter. Details of the secret holding have been obtained by The Sunday Times as G20 leaders gather in London pledging to stamp out tax abuses. Myners transferred 500,000 of his own shares in the Ermitage hedge fund, based in Jersey, into a blind trust when he became a minister in October ... He owned the shares while overseeing price-sensitive policy decisions. During this time he met Jersey ...
Seems to be a new trend now amongst some MPs to do surgeries on Facebook using chat or private messages. Tom Brake and Steve Webb have recently done them and I think it's a great way of engaging with groups of people that normally wouldn't bother get involved in politics. I think it's really important for politicians to use the web to listen to their constituents as well as talk to them. There'll never be a substitute for pounding the streets and knocking on doors though!
The Tories may be enjoying a substantial lead in the opinion polls but their divisions over Europe could well derail their attempt to capitalise on that when we come to elect MEPs in June. They also underline how far David Cameron still has to travel to put the chaos of the Major years behind him, albeit that this particular mess is of his own making. Today's Observer reports that in an attempt to find an alternative to the centre right European People's Party the Tories have held talks about teaming up in the European parliament with a nationalist Latvian party, ...
Yapping Yousuf has written a blog post that I haven't had time to read until today, in which he tells a story about a Scottish man who wanted to blow up Scotland's biggest mosque and wanted to behead a Muslim every week until they wasn't any left. But why wasn't this in the main stream media? Like Yousuf I agree, if it was a silly extreme Muslim who wanted to do this even though Islam condemns terrorism the media would have been up in arms about Islamic militants wanting to blow up a place of worship! The BBC need to ...
Who needs to pay to use a sunbed when you can get a tan in the comfort of your own home via your computer? Go here but beware there is a serious twist.
I bought a new laptop about two years ago which came pre-installed with Windows Vista, surely the most abysmal piece of software known to humankind. I have spent the past two years struggling with this wheezing piece of junk before last night taking a leap into the unknown and installing ubuntu. It is as if someone had put a Lamborghini engine into a Mini Metro. Suddenly my computer does what I ask it do instantaneously, it opens files in a moment, it reads Windows files - something Microsoft programs resolutely refuse to do, it migrated over all my favourites from ...
Jacqui Smith's husband has been watching Porn movies on the tax payer according to a report from the Mail on Sunday. Jacqui's husband watched Porn movies on Virgin Media and the cost for them was passed through as being Parliamentary expenses. But the Home Secretary has said that she has paid the pay per view cost of the Porn and other movies watched by her husband. Personally I would just like to tell Jacqui and her husband that if they enjoy blue movies they just need to get onto the Internet and enjoy them for free, why are they charging ...
There is breaking speculation that 5 other MPs from across 3 parties are worried that the Nigel Griffiths' mystery Brunette from last week's News of the World is about to expose them. The only party above suspicion would be the Ulster Unionists as Lady Slyvia Herman just doesn't appear to be the right gender for the mystery woman who appears to have been somewhat known by the red tops around the Westminster village. Meanwhile the NotW having defeated a writ from the Edinburgh South MP go into more details about his 'unmemorable' session in his office of spending 38 minutes ...
I've been away for week, but now back and catching up with a huge pile of correspondence and emails. Loads seems to have happened in a few days - more to follow when I've got through it all! Loads of comments on Heaton Park here. Tim
Nigel Griffiths failed to get an injunction against the News of the World earlier today, with the result that the newspaper has another go at him this morning. In fact it does not seem to have much more dirt on him, so he would have done better to, er, keep his head down. One fact does stand out in the News of the World report: Griffiths transferred 71 explicit photographs from his camera on to his laptop. If Griffiths can do that, why aren't' MPs allowed to read Lembit Opik's columns?
A few weeks ago the Welsh Assembly Government announced that it would be phasing out the tuition fee grant for new students from academic year 2010-11 and instead introducing a series of means-tested benefits aimed at the poorest students so as to enable them to attend University. Welsh Liberal Democrats have opposed this move for reasons Jenny Randerson outlined at the time: The total amount set aside to assist students going to university is to be cut by approximately 40 per cent. As a result of this package, there will no longer be any financial incentive to study in Wales, ...
The Mayor of London has opened up a new line of defence for criminals. If the crime was committed a few years back, Boris thinks criminals should be able to plead innocence on the grounds that it's just a colourful tale from the past. That's the defence the mayor seems to be offering to accusations (backed up with a tape of a conversation) that, as a Torygraph journalist in 1990, BoJo agrees to help his mate Darius Guppy to get another journalist beaten up. As advanced DNA techniques raise the prospect of progress on unsolved rapes and murders from decades ...
The link is to a story on the Mail on Sunday where Nicky Webster and her new born daughter are pictured. Their sibling group of five is now split into three families. One sibling sees the other two, but the remaining two are isolated from their siblings.I know of other situations where judges are deciding to remove and adopt one child from a family whilst leaving the rest together with a
It has been a shameful week for Hillingdon Council. At the beginning of the week I heard that they had decided to make no appeal against the building of houses on the back gardens of 10/12 Torcross Road. The fight against back garden developments is the cornerstone of the Conservative election promises over the last year. Yet when faced with an issue they can make a stand over what do they do? They bottled it! This decision could open the flood gates to similar developments throughout Hillingdon. Its was a bad day for residents and a shameful day for Hillingdon ...
In a fabulous display of "totally missing the big picture", the press greets us today with the hugely amusing news that Jacqui Smith's husband has been watching porn at taxpayer's expense. Simple calculations show she cost us approximately 1.5 ten-thousandth of a penny each, so this is all very serious stuff.
That is why it's such an issue - people think that London MPs at least if not those just outside it should do what THEY have to do - use public transport to get to work. They may be happy for taxi bills from the terminus to Westminster say or the odd 3* hotel bill when [...]
According to the Mail on Sunday: Cohen has claimed every single penny of the maximum £104,701 in Commons expenses in the past five years for his £375,000 property in his Leyton and Wanstead constituency in East London, on the basis that it is his 'second home'.Astonishingly, he says he has claimed the full second-home allowance since 1990.It means he has pocketed a staggering £310,714 in total - believed to be the largest amount ever claimed by any MP.Yet he declares on his Labour website that he and wife Ellen 'live' in Leyton and 'spend weekends at their static caravan' on ...
North Somerset's Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Dr. Brian Mathew, is flying out to Zimbabwe this weekend for four months to help with campaign against the cholera epidemic. Brian, who worked with the British Government's Aid department DFID in Zimbabwe in the late 1990', is to return to the country with the charity CARE International to advise on the rehabilitation of drinking water and sanitation facilities in the south of the country. Brian said "over 4000 people have died in this epidemic so far in Zimbabwe, and many thousands more have been infected with the disease. I hope that I can ...
