Bahrain opposition wants EU, UN monitors at "show trial" Wed Apr 8, 2009 2:03pm EDT * EU, U.N. asked to attend trial of government opponents * British lawmaker: protesters face "merciless onslaught" * Bahrain minister says trial is not politically motivated By Peter Griffiths LONDON, April 8 (Reuters) - International monitors should attend the trial in Bahrain of opposition figures accused of plotting to overthrow the Gulf state's government to ensure they receive a fair hearing, their supporters said on Wednesday. British lawmaker Eric Lubbock, vice chairman of the human rights group in the upper house of parliament, called the ...
We don't usually associate Europe with religious leaders, but then Cyprus is just a little different. Never let it be said that 'Liberal Bureaucracy' isn't willing to go that extra mile for a good story though. In this instance, Ros drove the extra mile that brought us to Panagia, a village on the edge of the Troodos Mountains in western Cyprus, which is the birthplace of Cyprus's first President. Our original plan had been to weave our way through the mountains but, after I'd found absolutely no sign of the scheduled turning, we were heading for the monastery at Kykkos ...
A few weeks before the last local elections in London a Labour minister, Margaret Hodge, stupidly talked up the chances of BNP success in her Dagenham seat. The BNP seized upon this gift of publicity, ran with it, allowing the Labour Party and the press coverage to give it credibility, and as a result the BNP got a better result in Dagenham than even they could have hoped for. You might have imagined that Labour might have learnt from this and previous examples where the labour Party have given the BNP much needed credibility boosts. Back in 1993 the Lib ...
Cllr from——- ward stated " I am delighted with the response from residents. They are very positive about the area and what was most heartening was the high level of party support in the area." If you go to the LABOUR website there are even pretty pictures of people holding props. [...]
I had a text on the 31st saying "Are you coming then?". It was from Barbara Fisher asking if I was coming to her retirement do. Someone had forgotten to invite me so I had to do a bit of reshufling of the diary to make a drinks do later that day. There is little secret that Barbara and I are old friends from her SDP days. Since then she has carved a career for herself as one of the best local journalists with a passion for the community she lives in. I went along and knew a few people ...
Political Betting is a site that prides itself on its number of comments so when Mike announced that yesterday they were to reach their one millionth comment it got me interested so I headed over to his blog and watched comments as they flooding it. But the 1,000,000 comment is: "Dorothy" That gives you a reason for why I don't want to pride myself on the comments that are left on this blog. Political Betting is more like a forum then a blog because its more like a two way conversation. My blog on the other hand is a blog ...
Man 78 had not had a bath for six months, The commission for social care inspection declined an interview. I wonder why? Panorama tonight 9.00pm.God i work with the elderly on a daily basis, hope these people who seem to lack any form of compassion remember something. There are two things in life we can't escape Old age [...]
When you're younger you can eat what you like, drink what you like and still climb into your 26 inch waist trousers and zip them closed. Then you reach that age, 24 / 25, your muscles give up they wave a little white flag and then without any warning at all, you're suddenly a fat bastard[1]Strange how an out of context sample on the opening track to a great album stays with you for years. Sheriff Fatman was at, IIRC, #2 in the top 40 the week I got my GCSE results. When I was doing my A-levels (well, turning ...
Fri 10th
18:09
Not to be out done by the expenses scandal the Lib Dems fight back with out of date Tax Disc.
Transport MP caught with old tax disc. We had a meeting with him only the other week on transport issues. I think it's a conspiracy against Libs.
{Ming Campbell} Commenting on the news that the RAF are reducing the Tornado F3 force at Leuchars ahead of the introduction of the Typhoon Eurofighter, North East Fife MP Sir Menzies Campbell said: "These reports are somewhat surprising and have not been preceded with any advance warning to myself. The important thing is the continuing public commitment to three squadrons of Eurofighter at Leuchars which will ensure the future of the base. "It may well be that in the run up to the deployment of the new aircraft an opportunity is being taken to try and reduce the pressure on ...
Candidate Party Votes ADAMS, Derek George British National Party 815 DONOHUE, Phil The Conservative Party Candidate 558 HARTLEY, Timothy John Liberal Democrat 696 TAVERNOR, Rita Anne The Labour Party Candidate 1353 WARDLAW, Karl Green Party 74
Today's link has to be "The Libertarian shall lie with the Left" by Alix Mortimer, as a shameless, inexcusable opportunity to mention the Brighouse Liberal Drinks last night, which, if you'd been there, would have looked very suspiciously like a blogger's convention, and one blogger - no names - ate the pie that I'd bagsied, and [...]
Now, this is an excellent site illustrating what Labour's desire to keep tabs on us all amounts to in practice.
{Ming and Iain Smith at Hill of Tarvit} Sir Menzies with Iain Smith MSP and David Anderson at Kingarrock Golf Course. North East Fife's MP Sir Menzies Campbell and MSP Iain Smith have written to the Chair of the National Trust for Scotland, Shonaig Macpherson, urging her "not to be hasty" is deciding to close Kellie Castle and Hill of Tarvit in North East Fife until local communities have had time to come up with alternative proposals and opportunities for the two properties. Sir Menzies and Mr Smith, who met with the Chair recently, expressed their anxiety that the two ...
Here's what the Keighley News says* about the defeat of my proposal for Town Councillors to pay for our own refreshments. Here's what I said last Saturday.
Let's talk about a conspiracy. It goes like this: The Lib Dems are being infiltrated by Tories using entryist tactics. Oh Noes! The evidence is the existance of Liberal Vision, a classically liberal campaigning group. Liberal Vision's problem is that they're a wholly owned subsidiary of Progressive Vision, a classically liberal think tank that has... gulp... [...]
As some of you who follow my Twitter feeds will know my poor Mobile Broadband Dongle is poorly and has gone off to the Docs. This means it is unlikely that I will posting anything new over the weekend either here, on Facebook or Twitter or anywhere in the known Interweb. So have fun! Enjoy the weekend. But in my risk assessor role I say don't hurt yourself rolling after too many eggs down too many hills.
I am disappointed to see that the EU is using a baby bottle to illustrate the campaign in the forthcoming elections. The presentation of this image is a clear violation of The International Code of Breastmilk Substitutes, a Code introduced to protect infant health. The Code provides minimum standards to be implemented in their entirety in all countries to protect breastfeeding and ensure breastmilk substitutes are used safely if they are needed. According to the World Health Organisation 1.5 million infants die every year because they are not breastfed. While the risks of bottle feeding are greatest in areas of ...
Liberal Democrats candidate for the Parliamentary seat of Pendle Afzal Anwar PPC is on twitter and if you want to follow him then follow the link to his twitter profile. Afzal will update his twitter profile with information on what he and the Lib Dems are doing in and around Pendle and shall give vital information out via the twitter profile so follow him on twitter or bookmark his twitter page is a good thing to do!
{ Current Town Councillor Judith with future Parliamentary Candidate Nader } Nader Fekri will stand ...
Mr Eugenides has written a very insightful post about the root causes of left and right attitudes towards the Ian Tomlinson affair. He takes his cue from James Graham's shudderingly evocative empathy with what Tomlinson went through, and theorises as follows: I think that some of us on "the right" take the view, usually subconsciously but [...]
Politics and administration is a rather difficult game in major cities. Everything is much bigger- the budget, the numbers, but crucially, the problems faced on a daily basis by the millions and millions of people who you are ultimately responsible for. This means the need for coherent, meaningful policies - all directed towards a coherent, meaningful objective. When it comes to London this is vital if not essential, with the problems of an expanding population combined with the ever-chafing issues of housing, transport, planning, safety and the environment. It has nearly been a year since we saw a certain Boris ...
From the diary and photo log - a Select Committee trip to the StatesSunday 29 March 2009We are conducting an inquiry into press standards, privacy and libel asking a number of questions and testing.Wh...
Well, despite a hard-fought campaign from our candidate Paul Penlington in the Prestatyn Central by-election yesterday, in the end the Conservatives had it. We came a respectable and very close third out of five candidates, very nearly beating Labour into second. The results are as follows:Graham Joseph Percival (Conservatives) - 444 votesAmanda June Wiggan (Labour) - 138 votesPaul Penlington - (Liberal Democrats) - 127 votesAlan Warrington (Independent) - 38 votesGary Alexander Bourne (Independent) - 24 votesIt was certainly a very impressive victory for the Tories, who were out in numbers on the night. Labour, however, were not even present at ...
South Glos now has to make its mind up how much it wants to spend towards plugging the gaps left by First Bus. The person who will make the decision is Cllr Brian Allinson, the Conservative South Glos cabinet member responsible for transport issues. PLEASE EMAIL CLLR ALLINSON URGENTLY SO THAT HE KNOWS THE DEPTH OF YOUR FEELINGS. His email address is brian.allinson@southglos.gov.uk Tell him - - Where you live - How you and your neighbours and friends are affected by the bus cuts - What you want him to do about it DON'T DELAY, DO IT TODAY, BEFORE THE ...
Only two weeks until the London Marathon now - but, don't worry, that means there's still time to sponsor me and help raise money for Refuge. You can read more about Refuge, and donate money if you are able to, by clicking on the widget above.
I blogged a few days ago about part of the Jubilee Line missing from Archway tube station signs. Now I've had an explanation:The inaccuracy is that we have not represented the interchange for the Jubilee line at Waterloo and London Bridge by a solid, fully-shaded grey chevron and are still showing it at Charing Cross. This is not a unique problem to the signs at Archway, unfortunately. We are rectifying these omissions (and other anomalies on our station signing) by replacing incorrect signs at the point of each station refurbishment. It is policy to make the changes at the point ...
Interesting piece on LabourHome by Peter Kenyon. He says; "After six months of active service on the NEC. I'm beginning to understand why the Party's membership has fallen some 60% since 1997. Unlike 'civic' mass-membership organisations, there is no coherent quality assured offer to Labour Party members, or those who volunteer to provide local leadership either through the Party's organisation or as its candidates for public office." Apparently there are regular 'skirmishes' between 'careerists' and 'volunteers'. Another post speculates on the prospect of Brown leading a shake-up: "Gordon Brown recently wrote the foreword to the Fabian Society pamphlet The Change ...
Both of the Statutory Instruments for the family courts are now available. I have loaded them on the JFF website and they are available by the link.This is not the expected opening of the family courts as journalists are potentially allowed to attend proceedings, but cannot report on them.Nor do these rules allow second opinions - probably the main cause of the miscarriages of justice in the
Cllr Owen wrong again in his Advertiser column.Lib Dems had no influence whatsoever in decision to keep Height Youth Centre open.My decision
That's the broadbrush Mandelsonian spin being put on the Euros now that Labour have just woken up to the fact that many of their voters are splitting off to BNP/LD/Tory. Note there's no policies or indication that they might have caused the rise of the BNP. Oh no. Just herding people like sheep with cattle prods [...]
I never really thought my blog would get read by quite as many people as it does, not just politically but just the every day stuff. So, I get quite excited when it makes it onto things like Iain Dale's top 40 Scottish blogs (in at number 36), and then when it gets a mention in the Scottish round up, but today I finally made it, when I made it onto Will Howells blog - No Geek is an Island - because if it wasn't for Will I wouldn't be blogging. Will set my blog up - so Will, thank ...
Average council spending on publicity rises to £971,985 Total Town Hall publicity bill £430 million The average local authority spent twice the amount on publicity than it did in 1996-97 God i should tell the tax payers alliance to get a freedom of information in at Salford council!
As you prepare to devour your innocent-looking Easter eggs this holiday weekend, bear in mind this piece of research by Lib Dem MP Jo Swinson: Easter eggs only take up 40% of their packaging, and remain one of the most wasteful products on supermarket shelves. You can read the BBC news report detailing Jo's investigations HERE. Jo comments: While it is encouraging that the amount of packaging used for Easter eggs has gone down, they remain one of the most excessively packaged and wasteful products available. On average the Easter eggs still take up only 40% of their packaging, so ...
I was surprised by the size of the response I got to my post on Tuesday about the police treatment of Ian Tomlinson. The level of traffic to this site brought back memories of when people used to actually read this blog. In terms of the people who have directly responded, they seem to fit into three categories. A number, including Thunder Dragon and Iain Dale, have unfussily expressed their concerns, and that is fair enough. Mr Eugenides offers a balanced response, rejecting some of my criticisms but accepting others. It is fair to say that people had not had ...
1. What time did you get up this morning? I haven't, yet. 2. Diamonds or pearls? A pearl necklace O:-) 3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Can't remember 4. What's your favourite TV show? Am currently working my way through the box set of the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes. 5. What do you usually have for breakfast? I can't have the same breakfast two days running. It's wrong. 6. What is your middle name? None of your business. 7. What food do you dislike? Kippers. 8. What is your favorite CD at moment? Butchering the ...
Liberal Democrat Conservative Labour BNP Others Just waiting for the runners and riders, have an inside tip on the favorite CLUE IS HIS FIRST NAME steve
Good Friday - and BBC Radio 4's Today programme booked me early bird time - 6.45 am - to talk about the leaked information showing police failings in the Baby P case (click here to hear the piece). What the leak - to Tim Donovan of BBC London - basically revealed was things like notes not being taken, a case report languishing in a drawer when the case wasn't handed over and so on. Each of these 'failures' being small in themselves - except that this was a child known to be at risk and therefore we, the public, would ...
Thank you once again to The Journal for publishing Colum's letter. See full text and scan from the paper below for Colum's latest views on the eyesores in Rhyl. One must give credit where it is due and it is fair to say that some progress has been made with regard to Rhyl Going Forward. Everything started off well, the Drift Park is looking better, some of the derelict buildings along West Parade have been demolished and most of the streets are looking cleaner. But now the work seems to have come to a halt. What's going on? It will ...
Nick Clegg has been continuing his call for cross-party talks for reform of the expenses system; there has been a flurry of expenses related scandals recently. I don't intend to add my voice to the flurry of condemnation but rather give a different slant; one that will perhaps be appreciated more by regular readers of this blog or might be wildly unpopular. First, let's be honest there are people who abuse the system; who are just in politics 'on the make' and it's quite right that they are pilloried and the press highlight these cases and call for heads to ...
A pleasingly large gathering at an Italian restaurant turned up for Southport Lib Dems fundraising meal to help fund the Euro election. Jennifer Barton a long serving member who started out with the SDP received her award from the Regional Party. Southport MP John Pugh was on hand to do the honours. Conversation turned to whether Den Dover (now disgraced) from Southport and elected as a Conservative MEP has paid back the £500 000 he owes to the EU after his expenses debacle.
The Terrorists arrested in the North West yesterday were planning an attack over the Easter bank holiday according to a report by the Times which you can read on their website by following the link. About the attempted terror attack the Prime Minister made the following comment: "We know that there are links between terrorists in Britain and terrorists in Pakistan. That is an important issue for us to follow through and that's why I will be talking to President Zardari about what Pakistan can do to help us in the future." I think its great that the Police moved ...
Political Betting has a blog post in which they describe how the next year from this Good Friday till the next will be an interesting year for David Cameron and what will happened over the year is the possibility out of the following things: 1. About to go into a general election to win it/or not2. Just won/lost a general election3. Leader of the Conservative Party/or not One of the above options will take place for David Cameron what ever happens the next year is going to be interesting for him. I would just like to focus on the number ...
Dave Arneson one of the co-creators of Dungeons and Dragons has lost all his key ability scores and character levels and no magic will be able to restore him to the game of life. At least not on this board where you are reading this. Having created the game that became the worldwide success and godfather and pinnacle of role playing in 1974 with Gary Gygax he sadly passed away to cancer in St. Paul, Minnesota on Tuesday. In tribute his daughter, Malia Weinhagen, said: "The biggest thing about my dad's world is he wanted people to have fun in ...
Protesting outside summits is the flavour of the month. Barely have the G20 demonstrators been pushed out of the City of London than police in the Thai resort of Pattaya are trying to keep red-shirted supporters of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra away from the hotel where leaders from the 10 South East Asian countries [...]
I was pleased to be reassured at a meeting with Travel Dundee yesterday that the Number 2 bus service is not threatened with a further reduced - or removed - service and that there will be no substantive route alteration during this year. I had arranged to meet Lawrence Davie, Managing Director of Travel Dundee, following concerns expressed by residents over the future of the Number 2 service. The service is a vital one, particularly for elderly folk, particularly in the areas around Peddie Street, the Logie Estate, Scott Street and City Road. It was therefore good to hear from ...
My council colleague Karen Alexander (Harringay, see pic) is doing another charity fundraiser run with her daughter Nicole, for Cancer Research UK. They are running in Dorchester on Sunday 31st May covering a distance of 5k, and can be sponsored here: http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/karenalexander2 And its only two weeks to go until Cllr Matt Davies (Fortis Green) runs the London marathon (see box on right).
Vince Cable's recently published "The Storm: The World Economic Crisis and What It Means" (see is highly readable. Amol Rajan in yesterday's 'Independent' called it "marvellously lucid" and compared the insight of Cable to the performance of George Osborne, the sixth-former the Tories try to pass off as a Shadow Chancellor. Anyway, you can read Rajan's comments by clicking on the headline above. It is worth remembering that the Liberal Democrats have consistently been ahead of the game on economic issues. Here are just 10 examples of things we called for first, and which have since either been implemented ...
Last night the Calder Valley Labour Party selected Stephanie Booth to represent the party at the next General Election. Steph Booth beat local Hebden Royd Mayor, Susan Press, by 95 votes to 52. This is second time lucky for Mrs. Booth having been previously beaten for the PPC by local town councillor Janet Oosthuysen by just [...]
A number of Labour and Plaid Cymru AMs are already running to their local press with the news that the crisis in further education is over and that the thousands of training places across Wales which were announced at Wednesday's fifth All-Wales Economic Summit will restore the 7.5% cut in funding imposed on colleges by their government earlier this year.However, as Welsh Liberal Democrat Shadow
For most American Football fans the Draft is a big deal. Fresh blood coming out College Football can be a catalyst for a team success over the following season(s). Get it right, and there are only a few teams who get it constantly right, and your franchise goes from strength to strength. Get it wrong [...]
The number of people admitted to hospital with anaphylactic shock has doubled in ten years, figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats have revealed. The figures, released in answer to a Parliamentary Question, show that: The number of hospital admissions has doubled to 3,385The number of deaths from anaphylactic shock has tripled to 24 a yearAnaphylactic...
I spent a fascinating and highly educational hour yesterday morning at a support group for stroke victims run by the Stroke Association. It was a sobering experience as the reality of underfunded NHS services was made clear to me. Since devolution 80,000 people in Wales have had a stroke. For 30,000 of those victims the experience was fatal. Stroke is the major cause of disability in Wales. It kills three times as many women as breast cancer.Yet proper education about the symptoms and prompt action could avert many of those strokes. Equally, if a victim recieves a scan within three ...
Any of you ever think back to our schools days. Do something wrong and you had the fear of the belt or the cane. Never did you any harm, but you thought twice about doing something wrong. If you come home with a policeman in tow you were for it. If you got pregnant at the age [...]
Am i religious? well in a sense of visiting church on a regular basis no. Do i believe in God in short yes. Do i believe the church should have a stronger role?well the answer is again yes.I have a real concern that the moral fabric of our society is disintegrating and i would like [...]
My House Points column from today's issue of Liberal Democrat News. The UK Press Gazette - which, sadly, is now a solely web-based publication - takes a more positive view of the outcome of John Randall's debate. We shall see. Sipson Stasi Because I own land there, I take a keen interest in the Middlesex village of Sipson. I was concerned last Thursday when John Randall, the Tory MP for Uxbridge, said police had used anti-terrorism laws to stop someone photographing its buildings. Sipson is the village that will be destroyed if a third runway is built at Heathrow. And ...
Our week at Bonkers Hall continues. Friday It is always pleasing when one can benefit the public weal whilst pursuing a private enthusiasm. As well as being an avid collector of paintings - I number several canvasses by Clement Freud's niece Lucien amongst my haul - I have long been an accomplished amateur artist myself. My "Sunset Over Bonkers Hall", for instance, may be found in the National Gallery in Oakham (of which I am a generous patron). Hearing this talk of "quantitative easing", I saw an opportunity to hit two birds with one fell swoop. I gave order that ...
Can I make clear that my cat Jack is not given chocolate, nor is he given a supply of Easter treats for any other reason. He just can't seem to keep away from the action.
Hearing the latest news about the twelve people, mostly Pakistanis, arrested across the North West of England on suspicion of being terrorists, I'm reminded of the fruitless hunt for WMDs in Iraq. I could be completely wrong on this one. It's early days and, for all I know, cast iron evidence of an imminent attack will emerge within hours and I'll apologise for ever doubting. But right now something doesn't seem to be adding up. We know there was a big police operation before Quick had to resign. We know these people had been under surveillance for a while and, ...
Am I the only person a bit fed up of politicians (particularly Labour female ones) putting men down - I mean heterosexual men with a healthy libido. If it's not wanting to put `Nuts` and the like on the top shelf (a Gay mate of mine said to a straight friend who had just bought it [...]
Hmmmmm decaff - is my body ready for such witchcraft? #
