I'm not sure if these primroses in Waterlow park, Highate, are the real thing, or cultivated. Either way, they're looking good, and something you don't see that often. They always take me back to my childhood, because when I was young, there were thousands of primroses where we lived, by the seaside north of Belfast. I used to pick them for my mum, quite rightly, no longer the done thing.
As if Eric Pickles' crash 'n' burn performance on last week's BBC1 Question Time weren't comedy gold enough, Beau Bo D'or thought it needed a bit of splicing up with Monty Python's 'Four Yorkshiremen' sketch - here's the result: (Personally, I find it even funnier without the Pythons - you can watch the original Pickles version here).
Last night the TV news predicted that a possible high profile target for protesters in London would be the RBS building near the Bank of England. So what happens today ? Protesters get to the RBS building, attack it, break in to it and attempt to set fire to it and there was not a single policeman inside the building in case of such an attack ? How can the TV news predict something but the police not anticipate it ? It looks to me that the powers that be were willing to let the protests to get out of ...
Well, just before the latest attack of the alien space lizards (as Millennium calls The Apprentices), BBC1 has premiered a minute-long trailer for Easter Saturday's Doctor Who special, Planet of the Dead. Sounds, er, jolly, but looks striking... More after the next paragraph for readers preternaturally wary of spoilers. So, good news - new Doctor Who in ten days! Woo hoo! Bad news - Richard and I will be out of town at a family do. Let's just hope our new recording technology is delivered by then... And while I'm about it, why no Doctor Who Easter Eggs this year? ...
Today was largely taken up with the Annual Meeting of Stockton Borough Council. This is the meeting at which the mayor is elected for the year, the leader and cabinet are appointed and the committees are all set up for the year. This year the business part of the meeting was separated off from the ceremonial part which seemed very odd. We had a brisk meeting with the mayor being proposed and
Now it's New Labour following a Bush Regime like sheep, How many of you reading this remember the Irish Problem? murder shootings, the Manchester bomb. any one say we had to have ID CARDS? no. How many Asian men do you no, lets look.your doctor,man who runs your local garage ,or your local shop keeper [...]
There is a famous cricket story from the days when a strict divide was maintained between amateurs and professionals. It maintains that there was once an announcement at Lord's that ran: "For F.J. Titmus read Titmus, F.J."The point was that amateurs had their initials placed before their names and professionals had them afterwards.I have always suspected this story is apocryphal, but in his My Life in Cricket Fred Titmus confirms it is true and dates it to a match between the MCC and Surrey which took place in May 1950. Thanks to CricketArchive I can show you the match scorecard. ...
Apparently there was no real news in the Eastern region today, not if BBC East and Anglia News is to be believed. Instead of featuring real local news, ITV Anglia and BBC East decided that wasting nearly 15 minutes on the marches and protesters in London was local news simply because ; 1) Barack Obama landed at Stansted airport. 2) Some people from East Anglia work in London. Presumably then because some people from the East of England also go on holiday to Spain, we will have local news live from Spain when they next have a general election ? ...
Yes you've heard it all now. Boris Johnson claims to be the Sun God when the twit* Tweeted this. Whether Boris aims to emulate Ra, Helios, Apollo or maybe even Louis XIV of France. Just don't let Boris try and take credit for the GB Cycling Team's recent successes as well.Personally I hope if rains before the end of the G20 conference so Boris will have to find a head to roll. *Derogatory not Twitter use of the word.
After the amazing rescue from a helicopter crash in the North Sea, not three weeks ago, now there is grimmer news. Another Puma has gone down, about 35 miles of Crimond. This time I don't think we can hope for survivors. When accidents like this happen it is a harsh reminder of just how dangerous life on the North Sea rigs can be. Yet, the fact is that there is not 100% safety- and there can not be. Maybe anything worth doing carries a risk. I am often mildly astonished at how matter-of-fact the North Sea workers are about taking ...
Liberals, libertarians and anarchists want greater individual freedom, though opinions differ on what constitutes freedom. Socialist, social democrats and communists all want greater equality, though they differ on the means of getting there. But what are conservatives about? Do they define themselves merely in opposition to the factions that desire greater freedom and equality, or is there [...]
They're Anti-Capitalists. The protestors, I mean... they're protesting because they're against Capitalism. They look at the world around them, and they see the G20 doing all they can to put politicians firmly in control of economies around the world, and they think the problem is Capitalism? Well, of course they do. It's implicit in the message being sent out by Brown - Capitalism is something that is suffered as a means of raising cash only, end of story. If Capitalism gets out of hand though, the leash is to be tightened. The protestors cry, Tightened? Why not simply abolish it ...
Photo by Sabine J Hutchinson http://www.virtual-shropshire.co.uk/ In case you thought things have been suspiciously quiet at Ludlow Town Council recently, the Shropshire Star reports: Six Shropshire town councillors including a mayor are being investigated after allegedly breaching confidential information.It is understood that South Shropshire District Council's standards committee met with the six Ludlow Town Council members on Monday afternoon and all six, including the mayor and deputy mayor could be suspended.Now the councillors - mayor Jim Newbold, deputy mayor Derek Davies, Mickey Bradley, Amanda Pope, Marie Glaze and Tony Pound - have been told a decision will be in the ...
I know you don't get a lot of them in Manhatten and he is a very busy man which may have prevented him looking in a dictionary, but sure one his Apprentices could have looked up this. Dune n. a ridge of sand created by the wind; found in deserts or near lakes and oceans. Dunes are capable of moving by the motion of their individual grains but usually keep the same shape. What leads me to define something I grew up spending many happy summers playing in at Portrush or Portstewart. Well this blog post by my good friend ...
Wed 1st
19:00
Homophobia vs Transphobia - the case of Wolverhampton Conservative Councillor Jonathan Yardley
I didn't think I would be blogging again about Wolverhampton Conservative Councillor Jonathan Yardley but the story went nationally with lots of 'political correctness gone mad' hysteria. There is also another story the local paper is running on Councillor Jonathan Yardley but I'll post that when I get a chance - this is a quick blog before the England vs Ukraine match.
{IMG_4491} As regular readers of this blog will know cleaning up the Redlands area is something that Glenn, Kirsten and I spend a lot of our time on . At a Borough-wide level, our recent victory on bulky waste collections is just part of our ongoing campaign to make Reading as a whole an nicer place to live. Picking up from where my recent post on the problem of litter left off, I'm pleased to report that the Council has listened to us and agreed to install two additional litter bins on Elmhurst Road and to monitor the area to ensure litter levels ...
sitting here again in a hospital bed, well not so much sitting as lying in pain, oral morph is great though. I thought for once I for once would praise the NHS the staff here are fantastic so much of a change over my first visit just over two years ago or have i got used to it, have i learnt the system. ASK if you want orange squash in your water for example you just ask and it appears. and the
The annual Easter Egg hunt at Vauxhall Park is always a popular fixture for children and families and this year was no different! It was great to see so many taking part at the event held last Saturday, and we were glad to see that the rain held off for most of the event. Congratulations to the Friends of Vauxhall Park for their hard work in organising the event.
It was inevitable that the economic crisis would dominate Barack Obama's first year - and probably first term - as President. This month, Obama is reaching a decisive moment in his struggle to restore faith in the US economy. After some shaky starts, he has seen the stock market rally in response to a policy of not nationalizing failing banks. The New Yorker's recent editorial provides a fantastic analysis of why Obama may be correct to disappoint economists on his left, and how his focus - in the short-term - is less on regulation to stop irregularities recurring in the ...
I liked the Guardian's announcement that in future it will be published via twitter. In particular, I enjoyed its intention to republish its archive as tweets:W Churchill giving speech NOW - "we shall fight on the beaches ... we shall never surrender" check YouTube later for the rest.Tom Harris's support for the Regulation of New Media Bill was less entertaining because it was so horribly plausible. When a Labour MP is reduced to making jokes about his own government's authoritarian tendencies, he should think hard about what he is doing with his life.
Right, serious campaign time. Jean Frenchman insists on calling our Capital 'Londres' [you can almost read the sneer] despite the fact that this is demonstrably wrong, does not in anyway accord with the proper name and is no easier to say in French than 'London'. Yet still Nicholas 'I don't care, I get to sleep with Carla' Sarkozy is pictured at the G20 meeting in front of a podium on which - just for him - is written 'Londres'. YOU'RE IN BL**DY LONDRES, MATEY, SO DO US THE HONOUR OF A LITTLE POLITENESS AND GET THE NAME RIGHT. So, my ...
Last week I blogged about the fact that once again some roads in Redlands in really terrible condition had been overlooked by Labour-run Reading Borough Council. I tabled a question to Council last night asking the Labour Lead Member for Transport: "When does the Council anticipate, given the current level of funding made available to the Council for highways maintenance work via central government grant, the following roads will be resurfaced: Blenheim Road, Donnington Road, Donnington Gardens, Carnarvon Road, De Beauvoir Road, Hatherley Road and Hexham Road?" Cllr Tony Page, responded with an identical answer (if you can call it that) to the ...
So what does Derek Conway, he of employing his sons fame, have to say to the Kentish Times about the second home allowance paid to MPs?And yesterday all London MPs were entitled to an extra £6,163 inflating their wage to £64,766.But some MPs do not think this is enough.MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup Derek Conway said: "For many MPs, like me, their income reduced when they became an MP."
Apparently added to YouTube from the BBC's HD Preview - and helpfully labelled "DW PotD trailer 01" - a trailer for the first of the new Doctor Who specials, Planet of the Dead, is now online. And here it is: A trailer (presumably this one, but maybe not) will be shown on BBC One tonight before The Apprentice. And the episode itself will be aired at Easter, so not long to wait.
The Twitter April Fool in the Guardian today was delicious ... but this post is totally unrelated to the day. I'm really looking forward to singing in the Kingston Choral Society concert on Saturday (4th). We're doing Britten's strange but wonderful 'Rejoice in the Lamb', Tippett's brilliant arrangements of 'Five Negro Spirituals' and Howell's agonisingly sad 'Requiem' (which was...
Deva Kumarisiri, the postmaster who introduced a controversial policy against customers who spoke poor English, has joined UKIP and, the BBC reports, will stand for them in the European elections. He has apparently found a kindred soul in that party's leader, Nigel Farage. Regular readers will recall that Mr. Kumarisiri was once a Liberal Democrat councillor.
Whether or not you think the BBC should be state-funded, surely it's time to scrap the increasingly sinister and absurd licence fee. Just to remind ourselves: the BBC is funded by a pseudo-tax called the licence fee. It should be paid by everyone with the ability to watch or record live TV (most likely you either have a television or a TV tuner card on your PC). Normally there's one per household but if you're in student accomodation or you lodge in someone else's house, you almost certainly need one for yourself. A huge database covers the whole country. The ...
How many people can say they have a URL that ends with .mp? Probably just me and Tom Harris then! If you want to check out my .mp site then go to http://www.irfanahmed.mp/! Update: The .MP domain has been deleted as the site did not work or update so I am better of without it. Its not like anyone except Tom Harris has a .MP site!
Britain's Europe Minister, Caroline Flint, caused gasps in the House of Commons yesterday, when she admitted that she had not read all of the Lisbon Treaty. I have often chided New Labour for not making the case for the Treaty stongly enough to the British public, but this really takes the biscuit. For once, I [...]
Sometimes, you wonder that those who layout The Guardian don't see the irony. On the front page they lead with the horrifying news that Afghanistan is hurtling back into the dark ages (or at the very least, lets face it, the previous century) and bringing in laws to make marital rape legal and requiring women to ask the permission of their husbands before they do a job, get an education or go to the doctor! Apparently this is Kharzai attempt to win votes from conservative Muslims. Well, perhaps they should have just said conservative Afghans because none of that behaviour ...
{Ming Campbell and Iain Smith} North East Fife's MP Sir Menzies Campbell and MSP Iain Smith have called on both the Scottish Government and Fife Council to look into what assistance they can give the National Trust for Scotland to help with their current financial difficulties, which may force the closure of Kellie Castle and Hill of Tarvit. Sir Menzies said: "Iain Smith and I recently met the Chair of the NTS, Shonaig Macpherson to discuss the proposed closures here in North East Fife and to look for a way to avoid them. It is clear that the National Trust ...
The Lib Dems 4 Parliament site brings news of the selections closing in April: BLYTH VALLEY - PPC (3rd Apr 2009). POOLE - PPC (3rd Apr 2009). West Midlands Region - PPC (3rd Apr 2009). West Midlands Region - PPC (10th Apr 2009). KENSINGTON - PPC (17th Apr 2009). LEWISHAM EAST - PPC (17th Apr 2009). LEWISHAM DEPTFORD - PPC (17th Apr 2009). SOUTH WEST DEVON - PPC (17th Apr 2009).
Taking evidence for the Select Committee inquiry into the state of film making in Britain continued today with a session with the Actors Union Equity, who according to their blurb, represent not only actors but variety and circus performers, stuntmen, singers and dancers, theatre fight directors and television presenters. Their General Secretary, Christine Payne, was joined by actors Rory Kinnear, Malcolm Sinclair and Maggie Steed who provided a fascinating insight into their perspective on film making. Equity represent around 37,000 members, only around a third of which are in work at any one time. This has always made their work ...
I wrote this article early on in the campaign and, following some actually quite justified criticism, withdrew it from circulation pending the end of the election. I did say that I would put it up again afterwards, although in hindsight, it probably deserves a revisit... One of the quirks about being a kindly Returning Officer is that people talk to you. Sometimes, and I emphasise only sometimes, you wish that they would stop, but most of the time, you get to learn an awful lot about a person and the organisation they're involved in. In the case of Liberal Youth, ...
Possibly the most exciting title for a blog post ever: "The Nazis versus libertarians" althougth if you're expecting war based action and adventure you'll be disappointed. But LFAT ask a serious question - again raising concerns about the welfare of children in a libertarian society: Who decides what constitutes 'crime' against children when the state's only legitimate ability to act is in response to a criminal act?
What happens if you announce some interesting (to friends & family) news via various online channels? 1. Twitter - nothing at all - reflecting the fact that I only have one follower. 2. Blog - roughly 25 visitors found the news out that way, and a few said congratulations in the comments. This seems to be a combination of my regular visitors plus a few people who noticed it on LibDemBlogs. 3. Facebook - at least 25 people noticed, with lots of wall comments and messages. This included quite a few people at my work - and gradually they've told ...
Today, the Welsh Lib Dems released research using yesterday's prison population and early release figures, revealing that although 2,448 prisoners have been released early from Welsh prisons since July 2007, the prison population in Wales has hit 2,825, it's highest ever level.Commenting, Jenny Willott, Liberal Democrat MP for Cardiff Central, said:"The Government's early release scheme is
I promise to try and make this my last post on Labourlist. Alex Smith has complained that there is too much navel gazing going on within blogs and he has a point to an extent. However, I just do not see the point of posts like this latest one on Labourlist by Glenis Wilmott MEP. It is not informative or interesting, it is just basically a Labour Party press release. That is not what I see blogging as being about. At all. If Labourlist want to build up a proper readership base they need to stop this sort of pointless ...
The European elections will be on us before we know it so it was pleasing to find a well produced leaflet from my MEP on the mat with the strap-line "reporting back to you in 2009". While not strictly a campaign leaflet, it's timing cannot be accidental! Unfortunately, the early promise is not sustained; the stories covered [...]
My daughter went to an Abba evening on Saturday-let's not go there (I didn't) Anyway she thoroughly enjoyed herself all dressed up in clothes of the period. In the process of finding her a 'costume' I came across a new business in the town, the Costume Shop which is well worth a visit if you ever need a fancy dress
I'm pleased to see that we got some coverage for the train fare campaigning that I joined in Berkhamsted on Monday night. Whilst my role as Party President has a strong internal element, the ultimate aim is to persuade voters to consider us, and press coverage is key to that.
Think of politicians as thinkers, fixers or communicators. To be a good politician you need to be good at - at least - one of these attributes. To be great, you need at least two. In fiction, you might find someone who excels at all three. Any one at Salford Labour H.O fancy having go? Thinker Fixer Communicator If you [...]
Over Hyde Park, the weather appeared unable to make up its mind. The blazing sun was interrupted by showers of hail, seemingly depending on who was on stage at the time. Whether this counted as some sort of divine disapproval was uncertain, as the hailed-on speakers took it as an opportunity to praise the crowd [...]
Someone has written a book that they are trying to make out to be the Quran and are spreading rumour, lies and other weird messages which is their to destroy the image of Islam. The sick project has a website www.islam-exposed.org. If it is a Muslim who has written this disgraceful book then they really are destroying the image of their own religion, but I can near enough bet it is not a Muslim who has set up the site and the book. The people behind it are only painting negative images about Muslim's and personally many are not worried ...
To read the Tabloid press you would be excused for thinking that the second home allowance scandal was a only a Labour problem. Watch this video to see Eric Pickles put the record straight!Mind you I still think the most blatant and shameless example is the Tory MPs Wnterton who seem to have no shame
A little YouTube tribute (which you can also watch on YouTube here):
Residents will recall that I have twice successfully moved refusal of inappropriate planning applications for the former Tay Rope Works site. Having won a previous appeal after a Public Inquiry, I was the City Council's sole witness at a further public inquiry on 13th January. However, we had great witness contributions from local residents and West End Community Council. I was very pleased to be advised this afternoon that the City Council's decision to refuse planning permission here has been upheld. As I indicated to the media on hearing the news : "This is a good result as very many ...
A colleague has pointed me at a rather charming anecdote in a tome that was available at Bournemouth conference last autumn. The Politics of Leadership was a book available at a stand promoting Be A Councillor when it ran in London. It's published by the Leadership Centre for Local Government, ISBN 978-1-84049-639-0 One of the chapters is called "Thinkers, fixers and communicators" and the author, Joe Simpson, explains it thus: I think of politicians as thinkers, fixers or communicators. To be a good politician you need to be good at - at least - one of these attributes. To be ...
I am as jealous as hell of Dan Hannan's success on 'You Tube'. His Strasbourg speech attacking Gordon Brown has had 2 million hits I am told, and even though most of them may be American his two minutes on his feet has gained him loads of media coverage. Why is it always the europhobes who get the press? What I wanted to know is how he got called to speak. Only one person per political group got the chance to reply to Brown's speech to the Parliament, mostly the leaders with Graham Watson speaking for the ALDE (Lib Dem) ...
London Conservative Assembly Member Brian Coleman's huge expense claims are nearing the stuff of legend, hiss free travel card notwithstanding.*Even when the figures last year showed he had cut his taxi claims by a fifth, they still came in at over £8,000 in a year, compared with £685 on average for other London Assembly members.** However, he is by no means alone when it comes to expense bills that, shall we say, don't exactly leave the impression of someone taking care over taxpayers' money. Boris Johnson has a bit of form when it comes to big taxi bills, but despite ...
... We'd say a big thank you to the 26,160 'absolute unique visitors'* who read Liberal Democrat Voice in March, our second highest total ever, and a whopping 67% increase on a year ago. This brings our absolute unique visitor readership for the last year to date (1 April 2008 - 31 March 2009) to 236,786, an increase of 124% on the equivalent figure for 2007-08 of 105,520. The 5 top-read stories during the month were: 1. Join the campaign to Shred John Prescott's £1.5m Pension 2. Why Mark Pack's awaiting a visit from Special Branch 3. Eating a vegetarian ...
After managing not to talk about Europe for so long David Cameron is having a spot of bother with an old Tory donor. The BBC has the full story here.
The Welsh Liberal Democrats have been fighting against the Labour-Plaid Cymru cuts in further education for some months now. Fforwm estimate that these cuts could lead to the loss of 500 jobs across Wales. Sixth forms are badly affected as well. In my own region there has been a reduction of core funding for Swansea College of 7.5%, for Neath Port Talbot of 5.55% and for Coleg Sir Gar of 6.92%. Bridgend College also faces reducing its £25 million budget by £1.2 million. When you take everything together, including promised pay increases, inflation and the negative settlement, the real cut ...
I'm not in work today, so I thought I'd go and have a look at what's going on down at the Bank of England today. Arriving at Liverpool Street slightly late, we caught up with the march shortly before it reached Threadneedle Street. Generally, the march is comprised of the usual suspects, people carrying banners saying things like "CONSUMERS SUCK" and "Climate Change is Bad", seemingly with no
The Times tells us that four senior Lib Dems will be on hand to inspect police treatment of protesters at today's climate camp in London's Square Mile: Four Liberal Democrats - Baroness Williams of Crosby, Simon Hughes, Chris Huhne and David Howarth - will act as legal observers at the climate camp to prevent violence initiated by police, rather than protesters. Mr Howarth, the MP for Cambridge, said that police and media were guilty of "talking up the violence", adding: "The danger is that they are putting off peaceful protesters, and attracting the wrong sort." Over at the paper's Comment ...
Dear All, I am contacting you to let you know that unfortunately the special meeting on the Credit Crunch, scheduled for Monday 6th April has had to be cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. Arrangements have been made to reschedule the meeting on Monday 8th June at 2.00pm. One of many email's i receive. this country And this City [...]
Despite being fooled twice today, I still think this was the best!http://tinyurl.com/pizzafun ------------------
The by-now infamous video on the Aneurin Glyndwr blog site may have signalled the re-opening of hostilities between Labour and Plaid Cymru in advance of the European elections but surely nobody expected relations to deteriorate as quickly as they now appear to have done. Yesterday Plaid Cymru Assembly Member, Leanne Wood invited us all to sign up to a statement of opinion commemorating Welsh volunteers who fought in the Spanish Civil War on the 70th anniversary of it ending, which happens to be today. The motion read: Commemorating Welsh anti-fascists in the Spanish Civil War This Assembly: Notes that the ...
BOOM TIME FOR MEDIA CITYUK A Salford Star Exclusive!MEDIA CITY BOMBS... Media City UK might be costing a bomb to build, but today we can reveal what Salford's authorities have been trying to hide for years – bombs. Right under the BBC's new site at Media CityUK. It's a story that Salford's senior citizens have been telling [...]
Just received this on Facebook from We're Related. Sadly I have got a lot of reseach on my family tree and none of Barack Obama's parents or Grandparents or Great Grandparents feature in the fourth, third or second cousins to make him have a chance of being my 4th cousin once removed. Good April Fool though.
I preface this with a health-warning: the story is by Richard Key in the Daily Mail. Still, it comes with direct attributed quotes... With all the fanfare surrounding the Obama visit, meeting the new U.S. president has become the hottest ticket in town. In short order he will see the Queen, Gordon Brown and David Cameron, but one figure who will not shake the presidential hand during the G20 conference is Nick Clegg. ... 'I am really annoyed,' he told me. 'As it was not a state visit I understood I wouldn't get to see him. But when I found ...
...will not be taking place. My last post was of course, as Malc pointed out far too early in the day (grrr!) an April Fool. Though thanks to Dan linking through it drew in a few people over at PoliticalBetting. If you want to know a little about the history of April Fools Day I will have 45 words on the subject posted tomorrow.
Are you going to the Bath Comedy Festival from April 1st till the 12th if not then I feel that you should have a look at their website http://www.bathcomedyfestival.co.uk/ as they have a very exciting programme that I am sure will interest you. The Bath Comedy Festival is yet another success story that Bath has and compliments our music festivals that follow a month later.
{Tom Brake in the Commons} The Liberal Democrats have uncovered the Governments latest instalment of 'Big Brother' society with plans to monitor activity on social networking sites. Home Office minister Vernon Coaker revealed the shocking proposals in a series of exchanges with Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesman Tom Brake. In the admission, Vernon Coaker disclosed that social networking sites such as Facebook, Bebo and MySpace may be forced to retain private information about users' web-browsing habits including the name of every person they correspond with on the site. This mass-surveillance strategy will be executed under a terror strategy guise, even ...
Pre-announced 'anarchist chaos' so far absent from Westminster - maybe City is in revolt and this is passing me by or was just media hype.
Yes, the last post was an April Fools joke. Normal, non-proclaiming-Christ's-Lordship will be resumed shortly.
Labour's blogging MP Tom Harris has today disgraced me by blogging about how he supported the Regulation of New Media Bill in the Commons last night. Tom writes about how he supported the Bill which effects us bloggers because of the section that demanded that blogs were all regulated by the government by April 2010 and personally I think its ridiculous. First of all Tom is a blogger he should have thought about the blog instead of agreeing with the government and today I am disappointed badly to see a blogger do such a thing. Tom Harris has personally dug ...
I've now been using this piece of software for several days with absolutely no problems. It is simpler than Windows, which some people would not like but which I absolutely adore. Openoffice is the writing and spreadsheet package and it is more basic than Word, although the last version of Word I got (2007) was so hopelessly fussy that this is a blessing. Whatever the very minor limitations of the new software I am still basking in the warm glow of a computer which actually works and which hasn't done anything daft in the entire time ubuntu has been working. ...
Asked By Baroness Scott of Needham Market To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to review the criteria for counting rough sleepers. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Andrews): My Lords, as part of the new rough sleeping strategy, No One Left Out, we are bringing in changes that will clarify the scope of the count and enable more in-depth reporting of the level and nature of need in different areas. Baroness Scott of Needham Market: My Lords, is the Minister aware that many people who work in the homelessness sector struggle to ...
Here's a difficult thing to say. Gordon Brown looks confident and assured on the international stage and he is to be applauded for that. You can also almost hear the whooping and cheering from the Labour Lair as they look at pictures of Gordon and Obama schmoozing. This is clearly his area of expertise: high level stuff which he seems to relish. By contrast his people skills are distinctly lacking which is why he would have been an asset for Labour had he continued as Chancellor but as PM he simply lacks the razzmatazz. Now the reason for paying our ...
It's been a long election campaign from the perspective of this Returning Officer. I had been warned that, traditionally, Liberal Youth elections tended to present some unusual challenges, especially by previous Liberal Youth Returning Officers. However, a promise was a promise... And yet, in many ways, these elections have been quite easy to administrate, especially given the surprisingly small number of serious rule breaches. Whilst there have been, and there is no point in evading this, some extremely unfortunate incidents linked to naivety, impulsiveness and occasional character failures, these are issues related to the ability of individuals to respond rather ...
Right. That's it I'm defecting! I've had enough of the Lib Dems. Their smugness for being right about every major policy over the last 20 years has finally got to me and I've decided to join a party with no ideology or any sense of purpose (haven't made my mind up between Labour or Tories yet!). Anyways... ...APRIL FOOL!
It's embarrassing to have to change the design on the same day you go live, but I simply had no choice. See, it's hard being evil. Sure, Capitalism's great but, you know, it's evil, with people doing things for profit which is really very super ultra evil. On a scale of 1 to Chris De Burg, profit is a whole other dimension of evil. I thought I'd be able to live with myself, put aside those nagging doubts but, turns out, I can't. Enough with the sleepness nights. Enough with the daily baby sacrifies and enough with beating up homeless ...
The Bbankers guide to dealing with protesters: http://news.hereisthecity.com/news/business_news/8901.cntns This is really funny!
How many of you have asked the same question? Who are our voters? Old,Young.Middle Aged? Do you ever think why are winning by elections that we should have had no chance,and failing on the sure fire winners. We have taken three seats from Labour,they did not come easy. It takes hard work.and a lot of man hours [...]
You can see it coming can't you? Reporting at the next election will partly revolve around a `ciabatta circuit` - Morning to Islington South for the ding-dong battle between Elizabeth and Bridget; off to Hampstead for a ciabatta at some trendy cafe for lunchto discuss with voters whether it's Ed or Glenda, dahling; Afternoon spent [...]
The G20 parties have started; the mass media circus is here in the City, well-rehearsed smiling faces are on show by G20 leaders. Lets hope that the G20 Talks are fruitful, that protests are peaceful and that everyone walks away with a sense of participating in what is seen by many as the last real chance to halt the recession taking hold in all economies. In the 1930's countries were seen to take unilateral positions adopting "protectionist policies", this historically worsened the recession into the "Big Depression". This must not be allowed to happen again, all G20 member countries must ...
At Liberal Revolution we love smart gutsy Lib Dems like Ed Fordham. Sees an open goal and shoots 3 goals in. Finds the defining difference that gives the Lib Dems that cutting edge or shows that they have the best first instincts and hammers it home. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4Nh8hHB8Qs You can wipe the floor with `em Ed! ps - what [...]
Yet another excellent post over on Himmelgarten Café this morning about the efficacy of the latest Anti-Smoking 'campaign'. The headline intention is to reduce smoking, of course, but the methods they choose - this time trying to make people feel that they're orphaning their children and, on the flip side, scaring children into believing their parents will die any minute if the smoking continues - are becoming increasingly inhuman. The ends, they'd tell us, justify the means: The demonisation, dehumanisation and anti-socalisation of smoking is so important and so necessary that it's okay to try anything. But, as I've said ...
Organiser for the Hereford Liberal Democrats and Paul Keetch MP
The world of political blogging is a testosterone fuelled place, with talk about policies, politicians, ideologies and lots of other boring things. Now there's an antidote to all that. Pretty Ladies with their fluffy heads can find something more appropriate to their level of knowledge and understanding here at Mrs-O.org, a blog about what (and who!) Michelle Obama is wearing. It's Guido meets Sex and the City meets Dominating Overload of the Globe! {Americans show us what the Internet is really for} Americans show us what the Internet is really for
Following the recent revelation that Caroline Flint had not read the Lisbon Treaty, John Rentoul of The Independent reported yesterday that the situation had been remedied. It really should not have taken embarassment like this to force the Europe Minister to actually read the treaty that Parliament has assented to on our behalf. She has had six months to get up to speed with it and I would argue that it should have been the very first thing she did on day one! I am curious to know what other things have been deemed a higher priority for her to ...
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that a Government anti-smoking advert can only be shown after 7.30pm. You probably know the one - children saying they aren't scared of lots of normal scary things, but they are scared their parent might die from smoking. Over fifty complaints were received. The ASA ruled that the advert could be very scary for young children, especially if seen without an adult around and not understanding the context (could my mum die tomorrow? Tonight?). The ASA ruled that the advert was OK when likely to be heard in the company of adults, such ...
Living in a foreign capital can often throw up faintly bizarre juxtapositions, things with familiar names may turn out to be something quite different from what you might have expected, whereas something that at first blush seems quite alien is actually very familiar. The Finnish language, for example is quite close to Estonian, but it is spelt quite differently. Often I see signs in Finnish which look totally incomprehensible, but by saying them out loud you suddenly recognise a familiar Estonian word and realise that you can, after all understand what is written. Something slightly similar happened to me the ...
Yesterday I wrote a blog post about how everyone should lobby the media about them not covering the attempted terrorist attack on Glasgow's main mosque and now here comes my take on the whole issue and what I think of it. Firstly the media should have covered it because if it was a Muslim extremist planning to do something like this then he would have had the media around him like bees around sh** as Peter Kay would put it. Now this is not me being paranoid or anything but the media do target Muslims with their reporting when connected ...
Parking charges set by the local mental health trust are significantly lower than those at the Conquest, according to figures uncovered by Nick Perry, the Liberal Democrat parliamentary campaigner for Hastings & Rye. The NHS Estates and Facilities directorate provides information on average charges per hour for patients and visitors. The average for East Sussex Hospital [...]
Typing still tricky - so will keep this short, but the basics are simple: - No London MP needs a second home allowance. Millions of people manage to commute those sorts of distances - including many who work all sorts of hours and don't get a second home. - Outside London second home allowance or not should be decided by travel time to London. - MPs shouldn't be able to make a profit out of second home allowance. If they need one - and those who live a long way from London do - and use it to buy a ...
This morning's Western Mail reports that a Plaid Cymru branch officer has resigned his post as treasurer of the Treuddyn and District branch in Flintshire in protest at the party's decision to back the introduction of student top-up fees for Welsh students studying in Wales. It is hardly a top-level resignation but the actions of Barry Hills appear to reflect the despair amongst many Plaid Cymru members at the way their leaders have so easily abandoned their principles once they got into power. Mr. Hills' words are pretty damning: Describing the ministers' backing for top-up fees in defiance of party ...
So Gordon Brown's hosting a gathering of world leaders upon which his electoral fortune depends and to celebrate there's going to be violent anti-capitalism protests. The French have already walked out - unless the G20 promises international Socialism they're simply not interested. This from their 'right wing' love dwarf president, incredibly. Apparently Barack Obama's executive car is called, "The Beast" and contains supplies of his blood and his desk on Air Force One flips over to become an Operating table. Seriously, who needs to make up April Fool's Day jokes? In other news, I'm with the French on this one. ...
Here are the details of what I said in response to the proposals to close a ward at St Ann's Hospital.
This is a final reminder that the latest Liberal England quiz closes at 23:59 tonight. To win one of three copies of Eamonn Butler's book The Rotten State of Britain, just email me the answers to the following five questions: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 ...
Courtesy of the traditional route of documents left on Parliamentary photocopiers, The Voice has seen the results of an in-depth piece of market research the party has carried out into the use of bar charts in Liberal Democrat leaflets and other literature. The research, including focus groups and a national opinion poll, found that by a margin of 63% - 18% the public disagree with the statement, "We receive too many bar charts from the Liberal Democrats". This margin is likely to please many of the party's most experienced campaigners, as is the finding that by 72% - 9% people ...
After two years of procrastination and after discussions with senior party officials that went into the small hours of this morning, Alex 'Two Seats' Salmond is down to one. In an announcement due later today he will reveal that it was foolish of him to expect to represent people in both Westminster and Holyrood whilst attempting to also carry out the duties of First Minister. In that press briefing he will announcing his immediate resignation from the role as First Minister and his seat in Holyrood. After reflection on the way his party has performed of the almost two years ...
Every year the row over MPs expenses blows up as the figures are published. And without fail, every year I get angry, for two reasons; 1. The amount of MPs who try and find the loopholes and exploit the expenses; they should be found out and shamed! 2. When a journalist lambasts an MP for spending say £150,000 a year on expenses but doesn't explain that £84,000 of that is for staff salaries, and that there are other set amounts for set items. I'm not here to defend their expenses and certainly not how the system is operated but I ...
Sometimes, a Returning Officer just senses that something is not perfect, so I've spent a jolly two hours recounting the GEM election - just in case, you understand. And so, here is the revised result... count 1 Cara Drury - 48 votes Alexandra Royden - 38 votes Victor Chamberlain - 31 votes Alan Belmore - 25 votes Martin Shapland - 23 votes Patrick Elsdon - 22 votes Jennifer Warren - 21 votes James Harrison - 20 votes Michael Atkins - 16 votes Richard Morgan-Ash - 13 votes Richard Wilson - 6 votes The number of votes cast was 263, making ...
For too long, I have languished in a pit of despair. In my quest for meaning in this life, I have overlooked what is truly important, caring only for the buoyancy of polls and the glamour of the political life, in that most glamourous of parties, the Liberal Democrats. I toiled incessantly for that most capricious [...]
Some of these reviews can also be found on Amazon.In March 2009, I read the following books: 1. King Solomon's Mines, by H. Rider Haggard After reading Haggard's other well-known work, She, a few months ago, I thought I ought to read this as well. It's better. There's less waffle (still, admittedly, some waffle, but not much) and its less jarring for modern sensibilities. Instead of the white men being obviously vastly superior to the evil black men, he paints both as being equally capable of greatness. Much of the language is of course not what we would use today ...
Reading's Labour-administration sought our support this evening for a reduction in Council house rent following the Labour government's u-turn on guideline rents for 2009-10. I welcomed the rent reduction on behalf of the Lib Dem group and made the point again that the above inflation rent rise Labour pushed for in January would have hit many tenants, particularly those in receipt of Housing Benefit (23%) hard. Back then, Labour councillors and officers were urging us to back a 4.9% rent increase! However in my speech I highlighted the fact that, disgracefully, the Council was being forced by the government to meet the administration costs of this decision in ...
Think back to 2003. Something big happened. Take a second... ... yep. That's it. A sort of collective madness overtook Britain, and a majority of people felt that, yes, you know what? It would be a fantastic idea to invade Iraq, because it's the only way to prevent Saddam using Weapons of Mass Destruction against us. It became a reinforcing positive feedback loop for Tony Blair - the public wanted it, so he was going to give it to them, so the public wanted it. Then... then the reality hit us, and we didn't want it anymore, and Tony's career ...
No meetings this evening but loads of things to do. #
I was out canvassing in the Belsize by-election in Camden this afternoon, in what is proving to be one of the closest fought recent contests in London. Alexis Rowell and two colleagues seized the ward from the Conservatives in 2006, to the Tories' amazement and dismay — not least because the Tory group on Camden [...]
As a Dartford born boy like Mick and Keef I have always loved Shepherds Pie. You could say I was addicted to it. But possibly not as much as Keef.Anyway, it is a good excuse for this:
