A newsletter from our Member of the European Parliament, Fiona Hall has arrived, adn I reprint it below as it is an interesting account of what she as been doing. In the meantime we have planning enquiries at ward surgery. It is very difficult to try to explain how a well thought out plan to be implemented just as it should be is not making progress when others appear to get away with not...
The Times reports: The website set up to smear Tory politicians about their health, family and sex lives was registered to the House of Commons, The Times has learnt. The site, The Red Rag, was to be used to spread slurs prepared in No 10 by Damian McBride, Gordon Brown's disgraced spin doctor.The identity of its creators remains a mystery but Mr Brown's official spokesman said yesterday that it was "not a matter for the Government". A bogus applicant using the name "Ollie Cromwell" paid £8.99 to set up The Red Rag as a campaign blog. The buyer had to ...
Debi has a fascinating post today on 'the FedEx arrow' - on the way that once you've seen subtext in a work, you can't unsee it, and the various reactions that can come from that. Now, I'm not really one to talk about that directly, because I can completely distance my reaction to a piece [...]
There was I busy listening to the radio this afternoon whilst cooking when the hourly news came on. One of the reports informed me that local boy Jack Tweed had been sentenced to 12 weeks after been found guilty of assaulting a taxi driver. Then all of a sudden it was reported that the family thought that Jack had been "treated more severely because of who he is." And so he should.Not only had
Well, a great opener with Austria's `Du Bist Musik`; classic cheesy British pop with `Love enough for two` that was a precursor for Bucks Fizz; the ultimate in Dutch kitsch with `Amsterdam` and finally pour douze points the start of a career for Johnny Logan.
A weekend spent with family - part of it on unexpected visiting at the hospital and part of it at home with an unexpectedly extended visit from our grand-children. I was reminded again of the amazing devotion and dedication of the vast majority of our NHS staff - doctors and nurses and health care assistants and cleaners all working over a bank holiday weekend to make life as good as possible
Export them!
From my polling today as far as Saturn is away from the Earth! Seriously, you can't go far enough from Labour right now. That leaves us with what we do with the Tories. We attack them on areas of policy until the votes are in. That means ruthlessly targetting like Genghis Khan. Britain was teetering on the edge [...]
The "I"PCC have launched another probe as video evidence of another incident has come to light. The BBC show doesn't show all the blows landed by the big policeman on the small but agitated women. The orignal youtube video shows more (incident starts about 3:15 in). Maybe it's time to remind the media about Kingsnorth? It might get some traction...
Just how bad do Labour need to get before the whispers of tactical Anti-Labour voting become a deafening roar? It seems stunning to me that it's something people are only willing to discuss with me in private, but so far, in public? Nothing. So hey, let's start a debate. For a party that's won many, many seats as [...]
I was asking my sister-in-law about the situation in Borneo where rain forests are being destroyed and plantations of palm trees are being planted instead. She said that land is being given over to Chinese companies who are growing the palms for ...
Liberal Democrat News reports that Kirsty Williams was the honoured guest at an all-party charity ball hosted by Anglesey Chairman Aled Morris Jones at the beginning of this month. Unfortunately, her flight north was cancelled at short notice. LDN goes on: "She decided to act like Lloyd George and enlisted the help of two women passengers to commandeer a taxi and catch the train. She finally arrived just in time to make her speech, but missed the delicious, gourmet dinner."
Easter has been very enjoyable. Easter Sunday started with singing in the church choir. I think our choir anthem went very well and we three sopranos all did a descant in another hymn too, which surprised us a bit as one of us had been having a ...
The Daily Mail reports: This is the spooky moment a ghostly white apparition was caught on camera as it eerily floated through the air.What appears to be a glowing white orb can clearly be seen emerging from a fireplace in a hair salon that was once a courthouse - and where criminals used to be hanged in the cellar.The property's current owner, hairdresser Harry Browns, 35, said his customers have been plagued by spooky apparitions for years.It happens that I used to work in the building in the 1980s. In those days it formed part of the headquarters of Golden ...
I've blogged before about some of the more bizarre ideas that the Green Party have, despite the cuddly image they like to give. The latest one though is not only bizarre but shows quite how extreme some of their views are and how they can make an issue that has a good deal of public [...]
Well deserved, Jacqui. See ...
I don't think this happens here. What happens here is that children in care are experimented on by doctors. This has been documented in the past (Kendal House and other projects). I am not sure what happens today in relation to children in care being part of research projects. The old rules on court secrecy kept this secret, the new rules make things easier to find out.
Hullo world! I am still trying to catch up with my mammoth backlog, and this is complicated by the fact that I have taken the plunge with Dreamwidth. So you all still know I am alive etc., have some linkies:Firstly, my beloved explains why Dreamwidth is so awesome and why we are both so stoked about it. Another clue is in their diversity statement, which reads like the preamble to the constitution to me... We are having a Beltane Beer Festival at work, and you're all invited, if you can get to it! Perse posts a nice discursive post about ...
Nadine Dorries, the Tory MP for Mid Bedfordshire, is threatening to sue for libel over what was written about her in the McBride-Draper emails. I expect she may struggle because to succeed in court she will have to prove that damage has been actually caused (rather than a mere intent to cause damage) to her reputation. Politically, her threats to sue seem naive. Threatening to sue but then not doing so invites speculation as to why not. The criminal law is, however, likely to be relevant. There is a statutory offence of defamatory libel (also called malicious libel) under the ...
More piracy thoughts as the Somali piracy events continue to reverberate. Piracy is not the only illegal activity rampant off the coast of Somalia according to the UN Special envoy on Somalia. Toxic waste dumping and illegal fishing in Somali waters is also happening. These are not matters covered for example in the BBC Q&A on Somali piracy. This issue is discussed by Christopher Jasparro, an associate professor - lecturer in UK terms - at the US Naval War College in an online article "Somali's piracy offers lessons in global governance". The wave of piracy off Somalia began in 1991 ...
So, I've mentioned previously the Dreamwidth project, taking a fork of the LJ code, going back to first principles, and building a really good blogging/feedreading/social media platform out of the nascent ideas that LJ had but never did well, right? I've also, previously to that, talked about other alternative platforms, specifically trying to build a distributed platform with the social/privacy features of LJ but without the reliance on one centralised point of failure. The specific idea being to try to Reclaim the Web. our sort of bloggingWell, I never did get that project going. Partially because, well, it was fairly ...
If a nail is a problem, a hammer isn't the only solution.
If anyone is interested, this BBC recipe for lemon muffins works just as well, if not better, if you substitute all references to 'lemon' with the word 'lime'. I've had 2, SB and Shrub are eating 2 each upstairs, and I'm tempted to go downstairs and get another one.
says the Government, and if you refuse to, then we'll take your benefits away from you! Or at least that's my interpretation of this report on the BBC today. Funny, because I was under the impression that alcohol addiction had for some time now been considered by the medical establishment as a disease. My father was an alcoholic. Whilst is sounds rather melodramatic, as I sit here typing in my lovely house, about to get married my lovely boyfriend and feeling rather happy and successful, my father's alcohol addition fairly ravaged it's way though my childhood and left my family ...
Hellooooo, well bloody hell hasnt this been a long time since my last blog! Any way sorry I havent done this for ages, I've been a little busy, well very busy! First of all recently I got selected to be the candidate in a local council election, but I'll blog about that later on. I am now the candidate for the Trehaverne ward for Cornwall Council election on 4th June. But again more about that later. The real point of this blog is this;- I DONT CARE ABOUT PUERILE EMAILS. It's consumed the media of the past weekend, and it ...
Those of you wishing to find out what Lib Dem party president Baroness Ros Scott has been up to in the past month (or so) can sate your curiosity over at her Because Baronesses are people too blog. Here's an excerpt to entice you: March was dominated by my first Federal Conference as President and, whilst I didn't have a setpiece speech to give - that will have to wait until September - I was still pretty busy. Opening and closing Conference, giving the Federal Executive Report, chairing Kirsty Williams' speech (and wasn't that a barnstormer?) plus handing out the ...
With all the drama surrounding dirty smears on the Internet, I was reminded of a bunch of blogs that appeared during the Lib Dem leadership election. These blogs were pure smear - transparently so - that disappeared just as soon as they appeared. Huhne, especially, attracted blogs that condemned him for 'marital problems', his property portfolio [...]
According to the latest Eurobarometer findings — the European Commission's opinion poll — barely a third (34%) of the European Union's electors currently intend to vote in the European elections in June, and nearly two-thirds (62%) believe their vote won't make a difference. Of course, political campaigning for the elections hasn't really got underway yet — now [...]
The extraordinary tin-ears Labour suggestion to conscript 'young people' into a compulsory volunteer workforce is no surprise to those old enough to remember the reality of Old Labour. Way way back mumble years ago, when the SDP split from Labour and began the long dance to merger with the Liberals the now-defunct journal 'New Society' published a study of the attitudes of supporters of each major party to charities and voluntary organisations. As far as I can recall over a quarter-century later it suggested some fundamental differences. Conservatives, said the article, were often involved in charitable activities, with a bias ...
Damian McBride's indefensibly puerile emails seeking to smear senior Tories (and Nadine Dorries) have left David Cameron understandably livid: David Cameron is demanding a personal apology from Prime Minister Gordon Brown over e-mails sent by an adviser discussing smearing the Tories. The Tory leader is "absolutely furious" and is calling on Mr Brown to give a guarantee that such messages will not be sent again, a spokeswoman said. Many will argue - no matter which party they support - that this is the very least Mr Brown should do. It does not matter that he is not personally implicated, that ...
I was on the Moor last weekend (the one before Easter) and just thought I would share with you what I saw. I saw kids, teenagers and young adults playing on the BMX and skate park. Young families playing in the play area. Students enjoying a few drinks on the park and chatting with friends. People of all ages walking dogs, sitting on the benches, working in the allotments and having a great time on a sunny afternoon. In the two or three hours we were there I also saw 4 PCSOs on foot, 2 police constables on foot, 2 ...
The days have gone by, the media spotlight has moved on but we've still heard nothing to suggest the twelve people arrested in the north west were actually planning a terrorist attack, never mind on the verge of blowing up a bomb. I wrote on Friday that I didn't think evidence would be found. My gut feeling is that these guys, if they had any notions of being terrorists at all, were at the talking-about-it phase and may never have got any further. Joe Otten, whom I have great deal of time for, commented that the police did the right ...
A local resident contacted Oval's Lib Dem Councillors via Oval News regarding capacity and overcrowding on the No. 133 bus going into the City from the Oval area. Lib Dem parliamentary campaigner and London Assembly member Caroline Pidgeon took this up for us and the good news is that there will be an additional bus on this route going into the City each morning and back down to the Oval and then onto Streatham in the evening. This will come into effect when the contract is renewed in January. While it will of course not solve all problems with overcrowding ...
Lambeth council has admitted to us that contractors working on the gas mains on the Ashmole Estate did not seek the council's permission before parking their vans on the Triangle open space (next to Trigon and Claylands Road). The council have said that they will be contacting the contractors responsible, to seek reinstatement costs, including re-seeding.
An update on two of the the trio of stories I blogged about earlier this month, all relating to the treatment of women. In Afghanistan, the controversial law which would have severely curtailed the rights of women, for example by requiring married women to get permission from their husbands before leaving the house, has been shelved. Meanwhile in Pakistan, the public flogging of a teenage girl in Swat (footage of which was broadcast on Channel 4) has now triggered a government inquiry.
{Hands on a keyboard} An EU directive that will see all phone calls, e-mails and internet activity stored for a year has attracted widespread opposition according to a poll conducted for the Metro newspaper. The poll, carried out by PoliticsHome, found that a massive 60 per cent of Britons rejected the laws with a mere 23% in favour of the scheme. The directive will be used in a bid to tackle crime and terrorism, despite the fact that only 22% of participants said they would feel safer compared with 33% who said the laws would make them feel less secure. ...
Monday: OK, so my DEEPLY SAD Daddies actually sneaked out of a WEDDING (well, "renewal of vowels" actually) to go and watch Doctor Who. To be fair, they waited until after they toasted the happy couple before LEGGING IT... But we didn't get to see this episode in SHINY new HIGH DEFINITION until Monday. So Daddy's review is today. "The Dead Planet" sees Doctor Woo marooned in an alien landscape facing the perils of an implacable army of metal-skinned monsters, whose next stop will be Earth. Hang on, that was the SECOND story... how original can the two-hundredth have been? ...
I like to think I'm a little more of an environmentalist and Eurosceptic than the average LibDem. I'm opposed to the third runway at Heathrow and have my own little blade of grass at the proposed site. However I was astonished at the comments of Green leader Caroline Lucas MEP who claimed that flying abroad on [...]
Firstly, I should apologise for the delay in publishing this report, caused almost entirely by my holiday - I got back this morning after a very pleasant trip, thanks for asking. March was dominated by my first Federal Conference as President and, whilst I didn't have a setpiece speech to give - that will have to wait until September - I was still pretty busy. Opening and closing Conference, giving the Federal Executive Report, chairing Kirsty Williams' speech (and wasn't that a barnstormer?) plus handing out the membership awards was quite enough to start off with. I also got to ...
Pendle Lib Dems Press Release: PROSPECTIVE MP GOES DIGITAL!! Prospective Liberal Democrat MP for Pendle, barrister Afzal Anwar has embraced the digital world. He has joined Facebook and Twitter in an effort to reach out to all sections of society. He said: "Many residents have expressed concerns during campaigns about the remoteness they feel from their MP and MEPs and I intend to bridge that gap during my campaigns. The Internet is a great way to contact me directly." "If it's okay for Barack Obama it's okay for me." He also said that he hoped it would help him connect ...
Huge numbers of people in Salford are caring for either a friend, a parent, or another member of their family. The latest count put the figure at around twenty thousand people. And yet these people who give up their lives to care, sometimes 24/7, can lose out on benefits and jobs because of their unpaid [...]
1 in 11 patients get hospital acquired infections as a result of New Labour health policies. Ministers were warned by the National Audit Office in 2005 that Labour are forcing hospitals to operate outside the safety levels set by the Health Protection Agency and this is causing the massive rise in MRSA and other hospital [...]
Spent last week in Cardiff. It's a really great up and coming city which reminded me so much of Leeds. The Lib Dem administration which came in in 2004 and increased its majority in 2008 has succeeded in turning the cities fortunes around. The city centre is a hive of building activity and the recently developed Cardiff bay area is amazing. Just shows what a Council can do when it comes into office after years of neglect by the Labour Party and has a powerful vision backing it up.
This is the politics of Mad Hatter priorities," said Alan Simpson, a Labour opponent of the war. "The Government is throwing money into an unwinnable war zone in Iraq at the same time as withholding money that creates a war zone in our hospitals." The total cost on the UK defence budget since the invasion exceeds [...]
I know it's the Westminster Village story de jour, but I'm finding it very hard to work up motivation to blog on what is being portentously dubbed 'Smeargate', Labour's cretinous attempts to stick the boot into the Tories. Damian McBride, the author of the emails slurring his opponents, has deservedly lost his job (hard to believe, by the way, he's 34 - if ever there were a walking advertisement for not becoming Gordon Brown's media-bitch, it's Damian). Derek Draper limps on as the public face of LabourList.org, reduced to empty exhortations for "the whole blogosphere, right and left, to commit ...
I have had a few e mails or posts asking about the decision about Garston hospital. I have just discovered that the relevant planning committee is next Tuesday (21st April). The agenda for the whole meeting, including material re the hospital, is at www.liverpool.gov.uk in the Councillors, government and decision making section. I have had a few problems with links lately but hopefully this one will take you to the relevant section
The Daily Mail is immoral. There can be no other explanation for the fact that they are campaigning against the HPV vaccine in the UK and for it in Ireland as exposed by The Lay Scientist. It is clear that they are doing whatever they think will sell the most newspapers in each country. In quite a lot of stories e.g. relating to politics where you expect newspapers to have an agenda and to pander to its readers prejudices, this would be fair enough. However in a case like this where they are dealing with a subject which affects people's ...
Thursday 2nd AprilNew YorkStill haven't acclimatised to the 5 hour difference and wake very early once again. I'm not alone as the first people down for breakfast in what is a very big hotel are anot...
"Ere, Fletch, what are you inside for anyway?" "Well, Godber, my son, it was just a bit of the usual - armed robbery, the odd car theft, like. Oh, and I didn't get me 'ome insulated." "Yer what?" "You 'eard me, son. The eco cops came round and found me 'ome was emitting about as much 'eat as Her Maj's gaff at Windsor a few years back. Gave me six years for that, they did. Only got five for the armed robberies." That, at least, is what Dr Richard Dixon might wish to see. He's the director of WWF Scotland ...
This is a pretty bad mistake to make, even for a politician. It's kind of like Harriet Harman speaking at Tory party conference by accident and then going on a rant about how bad the local Tory Council are!
Blimey, an Easter weekend is a long time in the political blogosphere. I go away for a few days and all hell breaks loose! Anyways, before all this, in a previous post I speculated that maybe the G20 CCTV footage of previous police contacts with the unfortunate Ian Tomlinson might conveniently disappear. And lo, it came to pass. It now seems, the "I"PCC now admits (forced by continued scrutiny I imagine...keep it up!) that their chairman was wrong to claim that they were no CCTV cameras in the area. It's okay though as he "believed he was correct at the ...
Hurry over to Philobiblon.
Some will remember the case last year of the Conservative PPC for Watford running a hate campaign against the Lib Dem PPC and other Lib Dem Councillors and members. Well how long do you think it took David cameron to apologise for this? 150 days! If you're going to be high and mighty over the McBride affair Dave, at least get your own house in order first! Hat tip: Sara Bedford
You'd half expect us all to heave to and fly the skull and crossbones on our masthead looking at some of the comments from the MSM since the weekend about us bloggers. Will, Yousuf, Jeff, Malc and Alex Massie have already pointed out some misguided and sloppy generalisations in Iain McWhirter's piece in yesterday's Herald. The fact that I feel the need to add my voice should be one way of showing just how wrong he is when he says, "New frontier of the blog hijacked for ugly politics". Simply looking at the diverstiy of the opinion raised against his ...
I couldn't resist this 'blue plaque' erected at the home of Jacqui Smith's sister in south London over the weekend.
I fear that there are a lot of wreckage still to appear from the artificial boom that was created. In my minds eye I can see two pictures one of a beautiful sea which looks very inviting then another where the illusion is shattered and a whole host of junk appears. Reality appears. One of the [...]
Today the Grauniad elucidates on the most significant part of this whole Guido Dobs in Spin Doc palaver. Damian McBride, the doctor of spin himself, apparently phoned in his resignation while mooching in "a north London beer garden before Arsenal's 4-1 win over Wigan Athletic on Saturday." Naturally, McBride wished to get all the political irrelevance over and done with so that he could focus on more important matters - namely watching the Arsenal extend the gap betwixt themselves and the crumbling route-one-meisters Aston Villa. Another page on the Grauniad describes McBride as an "Arsenal and Celtic-loving Cambridge graduate." The ...
The three Judge panel convened for the Minnesota Senate Election have ruled that Democrat Al Franken had more valid votes cast for him than Republican rival Norm Coleman.
After Labour Councillors in Leeds spent time laughing at the achievements of pupils at City of Leeds School in a full Council meeting (page 72) last year its nice to see that some politicians value the work of the school. On the 23rd of March an awards night was held at the school attended by Hyde Park and Woodhouse Lib Dem councillor Penny Ewens. Penny said: "It was a lovely evening, I was delighted to attend and be asked to present the student of the year prize. "The event was the perfect way to show off all the pupils outstanding ...
First the IPCC said CCTV footage relating to Ian Tomlinson being hit by police was given to them by Channel 4. Then the IPCC said actually there were no CCTV cameras covering the incident. Then the IPCC said actually, yes there were cameras but none of them were working. And today the IPCC brings us its fourth version: "The police watchdog has said its chairman [Nick Hardwick] was wrong to say there was no CCTV footage of an alleged police assault at the G20 protests" (BBC. See my earlier posting for sources for the first three versions.).
Jehovah's Witnesses are a national joke. We all have our ways of getting shot of them and our amusing stories about how we heard of them being scared off when they came a-knocking. Few of us want to be berated into conversion (though presumably it works enough for the JWs, or they'd have either died out or switched strategy). We don't deny for a moment that the Witnesses honestly believe they're right; genuinely see themselves as doing God's work and saving our very souls from eternal torment. And yet we don't want them doing it. If saving our eternal souls ...
Four days at home. Bliss! The time seemed to be split between the allotment, making videos, trying out new wild foods recipes and visiting local places of historical interest.So, I am now the proud owner of 4 furrows of potatoes on the allotment. In total that's 20 metres of spuds growing. Following the disaster of our crop last year, this time we meticulously planned what we were doing. So
You couldn't make it up. Or, if you did, you would be derided by all right-thinking people. It appears that Brown's next big idea to restore community cohesion, or whatever the latest buzzword is for people getting on with each other, is to compel young people to do at least 50 hours of community work [...]
Lib Dem Voice has picked up a Q&A with Chris Huhne in the Indy, in which he answers the following question (in bold) with the following response: The police officer who assaulted Ian Tomlinson didn't do anything worse than many other police officers filmed that day. Shouldn't they be investigated too? The officer who lashed out at Ian Tomlinson is not typical. But any constable who
To my deep amazement, it was standing room only at 9.30 am Mass at St Piran's Catholic Church in Truro, Cornwall, on Easter Sunday. I arrived shortly before the service started but could only get a space on the floor at the back. Every bench and chair was occupied. It was easily the best church attendance I have seen for over a decade. And for a practising Catholic like me, it was an inspiring - not to say, astonishing - sight, given the accepted wisdom that God is irrelevant, churchgoing is in terminal decline, and the only people who are ...
In this morning's Western Mail, Plaid Cymru's South Wales Central Assembly Member, Chris Franks, highlights the large numbers of students who drop out of Welsh universities each year.He tells the paper that the figures indicate that some students have taken the wrong courses, however the universities themselves say that the reasons are more fundamental. The director of marketing and student
Gordon Brown has written to all the libelled Conservative MPs telling them how much he regrets the slurs that appeared against them in e-mails sent by his special advisor. According to Paul Flynn on Radio Wales this morning that amounts to an apology. However it is not enough for the MPs concerned. In the meantime I have now heard two members of the Government contradict Mr. Flynn by telling the media that the Prime Minister has nothing to apologise for as he was not responsible for the e-mails. Technically, of course that is correct. However, Damian McBride was the Prime ...
There will be a number of FREE events around the city starting at 10am with a Roman Military re-enactment by the Ermine Street Guard at Kingston Parade. They will be on guard several times throughout the day. The Mayor's Guides and the Abbey will also be providing tours. Or if you fancy a walk then meet at Lansdown Park and Ride at 1030am for a three hour walk on the Cotswold Way (stout boots...
Free swimming will be available to people aged 60 or over from April 1 at Bath & North East Somerset Council's pools managed by Aquaterra Leisure. This includes our local swimming pool at the Culverhay Sports Centre. This is part of a two-year national campaign to encourage people to swim more often. Around 80% of councils in England and Wales are taking part. The funding comes from...
I have a great deal of time for Wrexham Assembly Member, Lesley Griffiths who, despite her tendency to occasionally lapse into the role of Government apologist in the chamber, is a genuine supporter of devolution and not afraid to speak out against the government line on powers and the need for a referendum. She is absolutely right this morning to highlight an example of where the government has got it wrong over European funding. She has told the media that Wales could miss out on millions of pounds of investment because the UK does not appear on a European website ...
The Labour Party has found itself in a hole with the McBride affair, the dastardly plan to slander leading Conservative politicians with fabricated scandalous stories and sexual innuendo. So what does Gordon Brown, master of 10 Downing Street do? Dig deeper! An unequivocal and sincere apology would have drawn a line under the affair, as the [...]
A planning application was submitted on 25th March for the installation of Solar panels to the roof of the barn at Bath City Farm the decision date for this application is 20th May 2009. The application refference number for this application is 09/00817/FUL if you want to view this application then please follow the link on the application number. Any...
And so the dream of a Houdini-like escape from certain relegation finally died yesterday, as Luton Town's 0-0 draw with Chesterfield, combined with Grimsby Town's win at Notts County, finally shut the door on any hope that they might survive starting the season on minus 30 points. It's been a tough few years for Luton Town fans. Three rounds of administration, some eccentric management decisions plus a crooked board of directors have taken the club from fifth place in the Championship to relegation to the Blue Square Premiership in just 40 months. On that December day in 2005, the coach ...
From today's Independent, The Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg demanded yesterday that Gordon Brown swiftly set a date to discuss MPs' expenses. The Prime Minister said last week that the system of pay and perks must be sorted out "once and for all, adding that he was happy to discuss the issue with fellow party leaders. But Mr Clegg said the email scandal engulfing No 10 had heightened the need for reforms. He said a meeting should be held "without delay to come up with a fair and open way of meeting MPs' costs". He said: "As the events of ...
Anybody who has anything to do with blogs has slipped up at some stage or another and got into trouble. The latest controversy with regards to e-mails sent from Number 10. Downing Street is only one of many, though the first to go all the way to the top. Now, new ground has been broken with controversy over the use of Twitter. In this case, David Taylor, one of the Labour people behind the Aneurin Glyndwr blog has put his foot in it over a comment he made about Liverpool losing to Chelsea in the European Cup. David celebrated Chelsea's ...
I am not the greatest gardener. And our garden suffers from the twin disadvantages of shade and being on a free-draining hillside. But Francesca directs the growing side of things and I cut, trim, destroy, uproot and kill as directed. After a productive and destructive Easter Monday here is the view from our bedroom window.
The Market for when the next general election is a very interesting one especially with the one from betfair because you can change the odds on your outcomes for the three ways that you can bet. I have been playing around with the outcome and what I have worked out is tempting for even me someone who has never betted (And will continue to not bet). If I was to put £30 on the line I could definitely come out with £300 so that means a profit of £270 which isn't bad. But imagine if I changed the odds and ...
Gordon Brown has written a letter to the people who became victim to Downing Street and Derek Draper's email smearing, one of them people being Nadine Dorris. Nadine has told Gordon Brown that the letter does not apologise and personally I don't think Gordon has anything to say sorry for. Downing Street has said they knew nothing about what McBride was doing so I believe them so I don't believe the Prime Minister should say sorry for anything. Personally I think Nadine, Iain and the rest of these Tories should stop over exaggerating this whole issue and smearing that came ...
The more I see and read about Smeargate, the more I think that this could be the most damaging thing to happen to Gordon Brown since "The election that never was". Close political observers know that Gordon Brown has over the years surrounded himself with characters such as Damian McBride to act as his attack dogs. There are plenty of politicians (mostly Labour ones) who have fallen victim to this sort of thing. It is one of the reasons that Brown was elected unopposed in 2007 - his operation had made sure over the years that there was nobody left ...
I know exactly the day on which Gordon Brown should comment on the shameful antics of Damian McBride and Derek Draper - 8th Spetember 2009. That's exactly 150 days from the date of McBride's resignation from the Prime Minister's office. Why 150 days? Well that's how long it took for David Cameron to mumble a half-hearted apology of sorts [...]
In a good bit of sleuthing, the Ill and Ancient blog (via Wardman Wire) has put together a photo montage revealing that there are three CCTV cameras in place covering the location where Ian Tomlinson got hit and pushed to the ground by a policeman during the G20 protests. You can see it for yourself here. Why does this matter? Well, it's because the police and the IPCC (Independent Police Complaints Commission, who are investigating Ian Tomlinson's death) have both said there's no CCTV footage of the incident. I've previously blogged about the contrast between the earlier very positive police ...
This morning's "Courier" has a follow-up item about my concerns regarding the way Dundee City Council handled last week's bin collection problems by simply missing out the Monday collection - click on headline above to view. The Council has assured me that should the industrial dispute be unresolved by the time of the May public holiday, a way will be found to ensure that it is not the same householsers who again find their refuse lying uncollected for a week. However, the hope must be that the dispute is settled long before the public holiday at the start of May. ...
The Liberal Democrats stand for freedom in a liberal society and for common sense policies for Britain's future. Freedom underpins our commitment to investment in schools and hospitals – and our pledge to be honest about paying for that investment. Investing in Education The Liberal Democrats will make education our top priority - both in order [...]
The Tories are demanding an apology from Gordon Brown over the Damian McBride affair. They are owed one but don't wait by the phone. As we all know, neither Brown nor Labour do apologies. I'm still waiting for an apology from Labour 17 years after they ran a pretty vile campaign against me in Hexham in the 1992 general election. Yet there is something missing from all this. The Tories themselves
I've made a little film explaining why I'm campaigning with the Highgate councillors (Rachel Allison, Bob Hare and Neil Williams) for a pedestrian phase on the traffic lights at the North Hill / Church Road junction: This film is hosted on YouTube. You can sign the petition here.
Many people mistakenly think that newpaper owners like Murdoch control the choice of stories and the editorial line, calling up their editors to lay down the law. That probably doesn't happen much, mostly because they don't need to. Any half-decent editors knows perfectly well what the master wants. When Gordon Brown became Prime Minister, he made clear in public that he was ending the culture of spin in favour of good, honest government. Had Brown been serious, that would have been made clear in private, too. Had it been for real, no-one working for Brown could have doubted that the ...
This isn't just the petulant cry of Derek Draper during the events or the weekend but is the opinion according to a poll on PoliticsHome.com The poll is in response to the EU directive requiring all phone calls, e-mails and Internet hits be stored for a year which came into effect last Monday. The survey also highlights that 56 per cent are worried about the possibility of a 'Big Brother state' and 63 per cent believe the government holds too much information already on individuals. It shows how out of touch the Government are with public opinion about having so ...
Yesterday I put up the changes with the entry of a new enlarged Poundland storesin Kilburn, here's the next one. It's the other consequence of commercial change - when one iconic store closes - another opens - but without the same level of historic affection and iconography. The fall of Woolworths was pretty widely commented upon as the illustration of how severe the recession is and was covered on this blog Iceland of course has a certain irony as the Icelandic Banks have been pretty newsworthy and Iceland stores is a part of that family. But here on ye ...
It's always slightly sad to see a team drop out of the Football League. Sometimes the manner is sadder than others - I am always sad to see a team which is the only one in its part of the country go. But I find it difficult to feel any sympathy for Luton Town. It's [...]
Sickened that any party is prepared to smear the mental health of the wife of a politician. Would they smear a cancer sufferer? #
So 50 hours of compulsory "community service" is to be demanded of all 16-19 year olds, under plans that form part of Gordon Brown's "please for the love of God don't make us clean up this mess" manifesto for the next General Election. Oh where to begin with this? Let's talk about enforcement, because, ultimately, if it's [...]
Further to my item yesterday about the proposed Riverside Nature Park, the Evening Telegraph had an article about this in last night's edition. You can read it by clicking on the headline above.
Julian Baggini has writted a quite interesting article on this subject over on CiF. I mostly agree with it, but it has a bit of a problem. Here's a quick quote from it:What it revealed is the negative perception people have of the godless hordes, and the New Atheism must share responsibility for creating its own caricature. You can't publish and lionise books and TV series with titles like The
