A man was savagely attacked in Salford, leaving him with serious facial injuries. The assault happened at about 2pm on Becket Avenue in Higher Broughton on Thursday 16 April 2009. The 25-year-old victim had asked a member of the public for directions towards Cheetham Hill and had just turned off Devonshire Street when he was [...]
It must be my week to bash environmental ideas. Yesterday's announcement by the Government for grants of up to £5,000 for people to buy electric and plug-in hybrid cars from 2011 will do precisely nothing to curb the UK's carbon emissions. Well, not quite precisely nothing. Road transport currently accounts for about 21% of the UK's carbon emissions. The £250m the Government announced yesterday is aimed at trebling the number of electric cars on the road, which sounds impressive until you realise that they would still only account for 0.3% of vehicles. If you do the maths, that means the ...
As some of my readers might already know from my twitter/facebook updates and my fundraising pages here and here, I am doing a sponsored 7 mile walk for Diabetes UK. If you would like to sponsor me for the walk this sunday, please click the widget to the right of this post and give anything from a pound upwards. I have raised £37 so far but would love to make it to my target of £75 - so another £38 is needed between tonight and sunday. Diabetes is a condition where the amount of glucose in the blood is too ...
I'm not sure what is more surprising about this video, the fact that Susan Boyle's voice is just amazing, or that I was informed about this by my favourite American author (Peter David). I've heard that even Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher are big fans. And no, I don't watch Britain's Got Talent (do they broadcast it in the US?) {Share/Save/Bookmark}
Bid to halt youth offending office Seems like only yesterday i was fighting to get a project stopped in Swinton. The only way to make a difference is people power united together it works famous comment i received i was a NIMBY not in my backyard.. DECISION to move a city's youth offending service to a [...]
I assumed back in 2007 that Brown was returned unopposed because he was seen as the clear front runner and indeed a dead cert to get the Labour leadership. Why alienate the guy who was virtually certain to be PM? Recent events given an indication as to how he was able to achieve such a position.It seems that the machine Brown built up around him whilst at the Treasury was what helped him to
It's not often I agree with a Labour councillor, not least a Salford one - but there's a first time for everything! Cllr John Mullen who represents the Barton ward has written a short article on Salford Labour's website about the recent planning meetings regarding Port Salford. For the uninitiated, Port Salford is an ambitious project championed by Peel Holdings (owners of The Trafford Centre and proposers of the contentious Salford Forest racecource). Port Salford would utilise the Manchester Ship Canal to deliver freight to a new distribution park situated in Barton, covering around 116 hectares and predicted to create ...
The video I uploaded last Saturday of Susan Boyle's incredible performance on "Britain's Got Talent" has since been removed, so that's an excuse for uploading another. And the power of the internet? On Saturday evening literally minutes after I uploaded the first video, I received the following e-mail from a couple in Dorset as follows : "Yours is the only link I can find that works to hear Susan Boyle singing. Please, please, if you have a means to give a message to this wonderful human being, please tell her how knocked out my husband and I are with her ...
The Liberal Democrats are pro-individual in economic, social and political spheres. The core value of the Liberal Democrats can be put in two sentences from John Stuart Mill: "That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His [...]
In the long-running British TV sitcom, 'Allo 'Allo, the Resistance agent Michelle Dubois always had a cunning plan. Increasingly, French President Nicolas Sarkozy emulates her. His latest wheeze is to suggest that the estimated 200,000+ French citizens living in London should be able to elect their own representative to the French National Assembly, as the residents [...]
I suspect my email account at the Lib Dems nearly burnt a hole in the Cowley St server tonight. Firstly, my Gateshead colleague and regional Euro agent Frank Hindle wanted me to send a message out to everyone on my North East Democrat list. Then I sent out eFocus, my email newsletter to constituents which had additions only minutes before I hit the send button. So a four figure number of people
Tory Bear's researcher of the week from the female section is Jenny Dorries the daughter of Tory MP Nadine Dorries who was my favourite and many will agree was the best one to vote for. Lets see what treats Tory Bear can get us for next week!
I have just received notification of who isn't standing in the Chopwell and Rowlands Gill By-election, the ward next to mine in Gateshead. And the BNP are not standing. I know we are. I know Labour are (they are defending what is one of their afest seats in the area). Not sure about the Conservatives though I guess they will fly the flag. The BNP didn't stand here last year but they did in a
Reporting these prediction yesterday would have raised expectations and, although they would have been exactly right with their take on how the result was going to go, if they had been wrong, people would have been left deflated. If we had just polled the 12% vote share, which was our target, it would have just [...]
So as a liberal democrat i am a Pig? and this poster is not rascist! I fight hard for all the residents i represent and the hours i put in for the small allowance i get i am on less than minimum wage so I object to being called a Pig by the BNP [...]
I've been quite critical of Andrew Adonis of late and, I feel, not unreasonably so. However, there are times when you have to acknowledge something worthwhile. Lord Adonis is on a train journey, having purchased a 7-day UK Rail Rover, to see what our railways are really like, from Cornwall to the Highlands and via most points in between. On the way, he's meeting with MP's to discuss their concerns, Dan Rogerson on the Par branch line, Matthew Taylor in Truro and Danny Alexander in Inverness, amongst others. Indeed, in Ipswich, Ros ran across him, getting off of a train ...
With Parliament in recess there was time for a review of Eamonn Butler's book The Rotten State of Britain. You may also be interested in Austin Mitchell's reaction after reading it: "Suicide may be the only answer. Though I will bet the bloody Labour Party has prohibited that on health and safety grounds, and that they won't be able to cremate the body because crematoria aren't allowed to smoke any more." The Rotten State of Britain Eamonn Butler Gibson Square, 2009, £11.99 Eamonn Butler, the director of the Adam Smith Institute, was in Church House, Westminster, doing an interview for ...
Don't forget, if you're a party member you can register for the Lib Dem Voice members' forum. You'll be in good company: there are 905 registered members, all of whom have the opportunity to read and post on a rich variety of topics which don't always make it into the public blog, as well as having the chance to vote in LDV's monthly tracking surveys. Here's a selection of the currently active threads to whet your appetites: >> How bad will the smear emails be for Labour? >> Local income tax >> Tory attack 'Lib Dems worse than BNP' >> ...
On a slightly more political note, Conservative Home has an interesting feature about which way the nations press will tilt come the next General Election. It speculates that the Daily Mirror maybe the only Labour-supporting paper left. The premise on which this is based, Tim Montgomerie, speaking to 'at least two journalists on every paper' maybe a little threadbare but I don't think the conclusion but I don't think the conclusion will be that far off-beam at all. I think it is pretty certain that The Sun will return to the Tory fold and its plain to see that it ...
What is it that makes me think that Guido, Iain Dale and Conservative Home are about 180 degrees around a course that will end up, at 360 degrees, with them disappearing up their own ?Note: The legendary Ooflu bird flew round and round and eventually disappeared up its own orifice.
Now the title of this piece may be somewhat of a revelation to any who didn't see my Tweet from Wednesday evening. But I was talking about a particular article that featured from the first Prime Minister in the UK to give an interview to a gay publication, not just give an interview but be the cover man. On the occasion of that publication, Attitude, celebrating its fifteenth birthday they had a little bit of a retrospective in all sorts of ways including having the former Prime Minister back for another interview. Having missed his first interview in 2005 I ...
Its funny mobile phones, email, text. what ever. But some people still forget how easy it is to talk.
It's awful to follow up this blog's best day ever (in terms of visitors) with absolutely no posts at all, but that's exactly what I'm doing. Going to the cinema to watch In The Loop in a few minutes, then I've got a backlog of post ideas that need writing up - so much is [...]
A leader has the uncanny ability to inspire loyalty. Those abound him or her will go to great lengths to support the leader. Another thing that is demonstrated in leadership is awareness of those around them. This empathy is expressed the even handedness and fairness. By demonstrating a willingness to consider both sides of an [...]
Despite some stiff competition this award has to go to MSN and Microsoft whose alleged 'improvements' of it's Hotmail service have led to people being without emails for days on end in some cases. Myself, I have been without e-mails all day and on it's online help service hundreds of questions remain unanswered. People are left in the situation where some addresses work and other people trying to access their emails are told that the site is undergoing maintenance and you cannot in fact open any of your emails. People have posted questions with a variety of dilemmas including those ...
What is a Call-in? One of the main responsibilities of Scrutiny is to make sure that the Cabinet is effectively discharging its powers. In order to do this, Scrutiny Councillors have the right to question Cabinet decisions. This is known as a Call-in and should only used in exceptional circumstances. When a decision is made by the [...]
When I saw the headline Obama rules out prosecution for CIA officials for interrogation tactics, my heart sank. 'Hello', I thought, 'the disenchantment starts here'. However, his decision not to prosecute operatives for doing what they had Presidential and Attorney General sign-off for seems sensible. I don't see any mileage in lining up CIA interrogators because they did, essentially, what their
Following their visit to 'The Common Room' yesterday [Thursday], Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable MP has backed Bath MP Don Foster's call for the Council to be a responsible landlord to small businesses. Don said, "It is quite clear that a rent rise of over 60% is just not acceptable at this time. While businesses must pay a fair rent, many will have to close if they...
Dear me. A busy day for "fluffy cat" stories.Hilary Clinton is raffling off her husband to help pay off her campaign debts. For $5 you enter a draw (that is "you" being a registered Americanian personage of course) to meet Billy Boy and attending "several interesting events" with him - one of which presumably is a long session meeting several chicken enchiladas.
Something of a fluffy cat post...Susan Boyle has now received well over 30 million hits on You Tube for her performance of "Dream a Dream" on Britain's Got Talent last Saturday.The lady really is a phenomenumenumenum. I've watched the video several times now and it still sends a shiver down my spine.
The Ian Tomlinson story just gets worse and worse. This one is just going to run and run, isn't it? (Hat Top: Mr Eugenides). Meanwhile, the Evening Standard are picking up on the worrying trend for police to hide their ID numbers. And finally, the Guardian has this tale of how not to treat tourists (particularly given the fact that tourism is the only thing actually making money in the UK at the moment). The Metropolitan Police needs an enema, big time. If it wasn't obvious after the De Menezes killing, it certainly is now.
No, I'm not referring to the G20 or Bank of England demonstrations but this little nugget from Damian Green on Newsnight. He said that whole he was being grilled by the police during his period of arrest, they said that he was facing life in jail.Life in jail? For receiving a couple embarrassing titbits about the Home Office!It's difficult to know whether to laugh or cry.
So said one of my fellow councillors at Neighbourhood Committee last night. Do you know the odd triangular site near Chessington North Station? It used to be a garage, then a drycleaners and now houses a car wash. Would you think it was possible to build 10 flats on that site, all but one with three or four bedrooms? And include parking and a garden? Could you really fit...
Barack Obama's decision not to prosecute those responsible for the torture of those held at Guantanamo Bay has come in for much criticism from, how can I put this, people like us. "How can we let these people off scot free?", is an obvious question, given the circumstances. However, I find myself in agreement with his decision. Not because I see a place for torture in any criminal justice system, nor because I believe that people shouldn't be held to account for their actions. The thing is this, should you prosecute people for doing something they have been told, by ...
Sky has the story: A second post-mortem into the death of G20 protest victim Ian Tomlinson has shown he died from an internal bleeding and not a heart attack. The 47-year-old newspaper vendor was seen being shoved violently by police and then being pushed to the floor during the London rally. The officer involved in the incident has since been questioned under caution for manslaughter, the Independent Police Complaints Commission has confirmed. Mr Tomlinson was first thought to have died from a heart attack but the second post-mortem examination has contradicted these findings, Mr Tomlinson's family solicitor said. A IPCC ...
Friday (again): September 2007, just a week before that run on the Northern Rock-and-a-Hard-Place Bank (so "I didn't see it coming" NOT an excuse!), Conservatory Shadow Chancellor, Mr Gideon Oboe, plays his "this proves we've really changed card" with a promise to match Hard Labour's spending plans. Today he plays his "ACTUALLY we haven't changed AT ALL" card and promises HUGE SPENDING CUTS that will completely implode the economy, just like they did the last two times the Conservatories tried to solve a recession by cutting spending. So that pledge of eighteen months ago: a LIE or just TOTALLY STUPID? ...
Friday: Mr Vince "the Power" Cable was on the The Today Programme this morning... just barely. He was there with an important WARNING about the regulation (or LACK thereof) of Building Societies and they SQUEEZED him in in between Mr Humpy's report on "My Nice Holiday in South Africa" and the funny "Are archaeologists going to dig up Cleopatra's ASP?" story. Look, I KNOW that the financial crisis is a bit wearisome by now, what with the unrelenting MISERY of it all being a bit, well, MISERABLE. But really, you would think people would take Mr Vince's warnings a BIT ...
A couple of weeks ago, Lib Dem Voice posed the question: Who do you consider to be the best living Liberal Democrat orator? It sparked a fascinating comments thread, but there was a clear winner: Paddy Ashdown 38% (138 of all votes) Shirley Williams 18% (65) Cyril Smith 14% (51) Lembit Opik 9% (34) Jeremy Thorpe 9% (34) John Pardoe 4% (16) Evan Harris 4% (15) Simon Hughes 4% (15) Total Votes: 368. Poll ran: 6th-16th April 2009 When I emailed Paddy to tell him of his triumph, and asked him for a message to pass onto LDV's readers, he ...
Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader, Kirsty Williams, will use her conference speech this weekend to offer a 'responsible and mature alternative' to political leadership in Wales.She will say: "Given the recent childish and attacking behaviour of other party leaders, it is no wonder that people feel disengaged with politicians."We know that new media and the internet offers the potential to connect
Tory London Assembly member Brian Coleman said: "Nicky Fisher turned up to this protest, which everyone said could be violent. She put herself in this situation - and lo, she was hit."It's like going gambling and then complaining that you've lost money."All right-thinking people will have little sympathy for her. The police were dealing with a very serious situation caused by some very silly people."I'm amazed Brian Coleman is still in a job. It was he who recently had a go at our Lynne Featherstone for calling out the fire brigade even though she was following official fire brigade advice. ...
I was sent a survey yesterday by officers in the Civic Centre asking my opinion on facilities and accommodation for councillors in Gateshead Civic Centre. Was I satisfied with what we had? Were improvements needed?Now is hardly the time to be considering investing in better accommodation for councillors. This should be at the bottom of the list of priorities. I wrote back:Given the current
MEPs were in Strasbourg this week for a week of formal debates and votes. Thanks to the good work of my UK LibDem colleague Sarah Ludford MEP, we voted to prevent children under the age of 12 from being fingerprinted for visa or immigration purposes (though the UK will opt out because our government wants to take fingerprints of 6 year olds). And thanks to the good work of my Catalan colleague Ignasi Guardans MEP we have struck what I think is the right balance between aid and trade in new partnership agreements with the former colonies of EU countries ...
The Gazette is running a rather depressing bus story this week. (The coverage is good, but the details are depressing) P.S. You can still have your say - email Cllr Brian Allinson, the Conservative Councillor who will be deciding about replacement services. His email is brian.allinson@southglos.gov.uk. And please sign up to the Save Our Buses in South Gloucestershire campaign.
The Carlisle News & Star has broken a story which might rank alongside Damian McBride's emails for its scandalous content: it appears that the Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Carlisle, Steven Tweedie, is involved in a website (prepare yourselves) "calling for Eric Martlew to be ousted as Carlisle's MP". The paper's revelations go further: "Anonymous opponents of Mr Martlew have used the website to urge voters to support any candidate in preference to him at the next General Election." Imagine! The site, www.byebyeeric.com, is now unavailable, but the Google-cached copy - currently available here - is all pretty innocuous stuff ...
Following on from an investigation by the Leeds Student newspaper into the university not paying out thousands of pounds set aside for bursary payments and a government report saying that thousands of students are not recieving what they are entitled Local Lib Dem MP Greg Mulholland has called for a national bursary scheme. This is really needed to allow people from any background to study at university without the worry of a huge financial burden. I did claim everything I was entitled to and still have a student debt of around £20,000 thanks to Labour's top-up fees. Going to university ...
Well earlier today just under one hour shy of 8 days after I sent it off I received my replacement Broadband dongle here at the office. This means that no more will I be restricted to shouting at the news on the TV. No more trying to some up from my mobile in merely 140 characters my reactions via Twitter alone. Then trying to cram in what I want to post about into the limited time I have on the Internet stations down in the staff rest area. Especially as with more of using just three machines at this site ...
As many of you will know I shut anonymous comments because of someone using the Comment section as an online home as they had nothing better to do, but with the European and County elections coming up I think its best if I allow anonymous comments. I will delete comments that I don't like, think are stupid or are morally wrong. My decision is final on this blog and Liberalism is not allowed to get in the way of the comment section, so if anyone messes around in the comment section I will delete their comment. I have already barred ...
Fri 17th
12:55
Huhne attacks RIPA snoopers' charter: "the Government's surveillance society has got out of hand"
Today's Times reports: Councils are to have their powers to snoop on the public severely curtailed. Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, will signal government plans today to reverse the expansion of the surveillance society amid growing alarm at the extent of official spying. And not before time, for as the paper reports elsewhere: A survey by the Liberal Democrats found that 182 of the 475 local authorities in England and Wales had authorised the use of Ripa [Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000] powers on 10,288 occasions in the past five years. It found that 1,615 council staff have the ...
Shane Greer has had his blog redesigned and has a new template which you can see a screen print of above. Personally I like his new template and would get one like it but I can't afford paying for a template but unlike Shane I don't get a friendly discount from Mike Rouse!
The pioneer of genetic fingerprinting, Professor Sir Alec Jeffries, has said that the Government is risking public support for the national DNA database by holding innocent people's records. Professor Jeffries told the Guardian, "I have significant concerns there [about the size of the database]. That database is currently populated by an unknown number of entirely innocent people. It is not possible to get an accurate number but it appears to be hundreds of thousands. "My view is very clear that if you have been convicted of a crime then you owe it to society to be retained on that database ...
I wrote the following article for Parliamentary Campaigner but thoguht it useful to post it here as well. The analysis covers polls and council by-elections from 1st March to 9th April.If Labour had hoped for a G20 'bounce', all they got was one very short lived blip. On 4th April YouGov put them at 34%, with a Conservative lead of 7%. Two days later, Labour were back down to 30%.The range of
As you might be aware, there's been quite a large amount of problems with copyright over the last few years. Thanks to the relentless waves of new websites, faster connections and new technology, it gets easier and easier every day to get information (This time last year, for example, Twitter had not hit the headlines). This information, be it photographic, literary, audio or video - any of them can be copyrighted. The problem is, that copyright is an inherently awful system, and almost all liberals (big and little L) accept this. It badly needs universal reform as it protects businesses ...
So, the Charity Commission has said the Prince's Trust broke the law by donating £10,050 to Conservative Party group women2win! This is reported in The Times today. You would assume this would be a big story, but no, it is buried on page 14 in todays edition. "It added (the Charity Commission) that the charity (Prince's Trust) had been wrong to hold a fundraising lunch involving Baroness Thatcher with the organisation, which has been set up to get more Tory women candidates elected to Parliament." The Commission went on to say; "The Prince's Trust had risked its reputation and independence." ...
Duncan Brack and Ed Randall, authors of the Dictionary of Liberal Thought, have kindly agreed to let us publish extracts on Lib Dem Voice. This month we start a trilogy of postings on liberalism - classical, economic and social. This month, it's classical. You can read previous extract on LDV here. The entire book is available on Amazon here and can also be bought at the Westminster Bookshop. Classical liberalism The meaning of the term 'liberalism' has become increasingly diffused and has been subject to many changes and interpretations over time. In the Anglo-Saxon world, 'classical liberalism' is the term ...
I did mention that there were a few potential opportunities on my horizon and it gives me great pleasure to announce that I have been nominated to be the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Upper Gipping Division of Suffolk County Council. Upper Gipping has not been contested by the Liberal Democrats in the recent past, but we feel that it is important to give voters across the county an opportunity to vote for a party who will challenge the savage cuts in services being made by the Conservative administration.So I'll be taking the fight to the Conservatives from Haughley in ...
{A strand of dna} The pioneer of genetic fingerprinting, Professor Sir Alec Jeffries, has said that the Government is risking public support for the national DNA database by holding innocent people's records. Professor Jeffries told the Guardian, "I have significant concerns there [about the size of the database]. That database is currently populated by an unknown number of entirely innocent people. It is not possible to get an accurate number but it appears to be hundreds of thousands. "My view is very clear that if you have been convicted of a crime then you owe it to society to be ...
Hexham Road has hit the headlines for the wrong reasons today, with news of the arrest of a 13 year old for dealing hard drugs. The Lib Dem team, working with the Council and the Police have been working hard over the past few years with local residents to change perceptions about Hexham Road, and articles like this obviously make that job more difficult. However, there is clearly still a lot of work to be done to get drugs off the estate, and we are not in any way complacent. In light of this, I have written today to senior officers in the Council, ...
Came across this on Daily Kos. The Republican congressional candidate in a special election caused by Kirsten Gillibrand being elevated to the Senate in place of Hillary Clinton is suing to be declared the winner, even though he's currently 178 votes BEHIND. I know Republicans have a history of being declared the winners of elections when their guy got fewer votes, but someone really ought to tell them that the basic principle of a first past the post electoral system is that the person with the MOST votes wins.
Conservative Home has a blog post in which Mark Pritchard MP writes about how Sharia courts are becoming a problem as they don't give women the same rights as men and I think this is a serious issue that needs to be discussed. In the past I have been someone who has supported Sharia Law and I had believed it should be adopted into the UK but now I have changed my mind. Sharia is a law that is fine in the Countries that use it, I am not going to question their use of it and I think if ...
It is interesting to read David Cameron in last Sunday's Times castigating his own MPs on "feathering their own nests" when in Hampshire Tory County Councillors are sitting "comfy cosy" in first class carriages whilst the rest of us are struggling. Perhaps David Cameron should "have a word" with his local Tories who are certainly wasting tax payers money! Scratch the surface and it is the same old Tories underneath. Cameron said this weekend: "All week I've been receiving letters from people saying the same thing: how can MPs claim they're helping people through the recession when so many of ...
This may seem an odd time to talk about the Tories when attention is concentrated much more on Labour's misdoings, but I think a comparison is instructive. What is going on in Labour at the moment has been called a tsunami, but, if that's a tsunami, I cannot think what word could be used to describe the continuing tale of Tory corruption and nastiness. A little while ago Mark Pack asked if anyone believed that the Tory party had really changed. I certainly don't. There is a wave of new Tories coming to the fore who cut their teeth on ...
The 2009 People's Millions competition will give communities throughout the UK the opportunity to win local public support and share in £3.5 million of Lottery funding. Grants of up to £50,000 will be provided for projects that transform local environments and offer opportunities or facilities for people to take part and enjoy their local area. This will include initiatives focusing on buildings, amenities, public and green spaces and natural habitats. Voluntary and community groups, social enterprises, local authorities, schools and health organisations are invited to apply. Head-to-head competitions will take place in each of the 15 ITV regions later in ...
The 2009 Social Trends survey has been released, giving journalists everywhere the opportunity to cherry-pick data for a quick story supporting whatever editorial line they want to push, safe in the knowledge that few people are going to plough through the 283 page document to see if they're right. Far be it from me to buck the trend - over the next few days I'll be reading the survey and blithely cherry-picking. Today it's Chaper 2 of the report: Households and families. What interests me here is how much hasn't changed, at least in the last twenty years. I had ...
The Times reports: The Financial Services Authority was accused last night by one of its former supervisors of complacency in its past regulation of building societies. The unnamed whistleblower, who approached Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrats Treasury spokesman, said that the FSA ignored a warning three years ago that risky self-certified loans had been packaged and sold to building societies that thought they were conventional loans. Mr Cable has written to Lord Turner of Ecchinswell, the FSA chairman, asking him to investigate. "This man experienced first hand the appallingly bad job the FSA did of supervising the building societies," Mr ...
Respect to the Hertfordshire county Lib Dem crew - hear da Telegraph now: Cllr Allan Witherick, 30, the youngest member of Hertfordshire County Council, has unleashed his rap star persona to promote a new campaign launched by his party. The Six to Fix campaign highlights six key problem areas in Hertfordshire, from poor roads to a failing home help system. And Cllr Witherick has decided to spread the word through street music, ahead of the county council elections in June. In what he describes as "a funky mix with a little bit of flare", he attacks the six main failures ...
In November 2002 I took a six-month trip to South America. Just like with my 1999-2000 trip I found the postcards the other day and emails I sent.
Today Vince Cable's book The Storm landed on my doormat. I decided to buy it although this is a challenge for both Vince and myself - as economics is definitely not my thing. I still don't quite understand how spending £500 billion is saving the world. And I once had to drop out of Economics A-level classes when I simply did not have a clue what was going on. As Chancellor in the last recession, Norman Lamont said that unemployment was 'a price worth paying' to keep inflation down. I was unemployed at the time. Was I being told that ...
... and old age is not that far away. I might end up in the Royal Sussex in a dodgy geriatric ward. I hope to God I won't, but if I do, I'd far rather be looked after by Margaret Haywood, than by the bunch of self serving nonces who have taken away her right to be a nurse.
In November 1999 I decided to take a round-the-world trip. Last week I found the postcards I sent back along with the diary I kept at the time.
Great campaign technique by the Lib Dem, something I think other politicians should take into consideration and use. The Youth will only get interested in politics if you bring it to them so rapping policy is a great way to take it to them. This Councillor deserves a medal for use of New Media and Music to politically campaign. Update: Why not check out the Six to Fix website?
The South Yorkshire Times reports (via Liberal England): Astonishing in-house 'harassment and bullying' row leaves: * Entire Labour Party branch suspended for over a year * Detectives drafted in, to probe financial allegations * Labour fearing 2010 local election disaster * Party bosses ordering wall of silence Meanwhile, in the Highlands, Cllr Linda Munro has decided to join the Liberal Democrats: The Lib Dem politics in action - what I have experienced, I like, understand and trust. Over the past twenty plus years, I have had occasion to seek the support of Robert McLennan, John Thurso and more recently Jamie ...
I've been sickened by reading the extent to which the US sanctioned torture during the Bush administration. Here are some of the things they did: Imagine being kept, standing up, without sleep for 7.5 days. I am petrified of wasps and can completely relate to the terror felt by somebody who was kept in a confined space into which an insect was released, and those who put the beastie in there told them it would sting them. Being slapped, or slammed into a wall. Waterboarding - not some jolly sport you do on holiday, but a hideous and terrifying form ...
I reported a little while back on the success of the nagging to get the queue times reduced at Muswell Hill Post Office. In fact - when I went to check how things were going a few days ago, there was no queue inside! And the figures for queue times in March showed a big improvement. But we need to keep the improvements going: This film is hosted on YouTube.
Well, if you thought the pace of change was fast in Kilburn or South End Green, then here is the evidence that it's a pacey old world out there. Here in West hampstead you really do need to watching and keeping a close eye on things. It's goodbye The Vault, goodbye The Wash House and hello to The Alice House... All three are on West End Lane but the point is a rather graphic illustration of how fast the business community moves. West Hampstead has in recent years undergone a major rennaisance (depending on your likes and dislikes of course) ...
The Glasgow Herald reports: Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg rolled up his sleeves yesterday to clean windows at a hostel for the homeless. The MP washed two windows at the five-storey Salvation Army-run block in Bristol to see how social enterprise company Aspire provides jobs for the long- term unemployed and homeless.I'm not sure why this story made it into a Glasgow paper. Anyway, follow this link for a video of the event.
Barack Obama has released the memos that shows the US Justice Department and the CIA arguing around the legality of torture. Good. Barack Obama is going to spare every official complicit in preparing this position and carrying it through. Bad. Of course the fact that one of his first executive acts was to end these practises was praised the fact that nobody is going to be held to account for them is a poor show. Yes if somebody was merely following orders at the low end there is a possible case for leniency but what about those who were issuing ...
From the South Yorkshire Times: An ENTIRE South Yorkshire Labour Party branch has been suspended for over a YEAR - after an astonishing in-house row between its members, the Times can reveal.At one stage, detectives were even drafted into the investigate fraud allegations, amid claims and counter-claims of "bullying and harassment". But no-wrong-doing was found.The wrangle has resulted in the branch's activities being suspended until 2010 - amid Labour Party fears that the electorate will turn its back on the branch at next year's elections.Labour chiefs have ordered a news blackout on the affair. An internal investigation report said all ...
After a year of discussions and evidence gathering, we have this week published the results of a joint inquiry by West of England and Welsh Lib Dem parliamentarians and councillors into tidal power from the Severn. You can find it here. At the start of the inquiry, our group had a wide range of views on the subject but we were all determined to come with an open mind. We wanted to harness the tidal power of the Severn but wanted to see where the evidence led us on which approach would get the best combination of maximising the renewable ...
I am pleased at the latest response from Digital UK regarding the numerous television reception problems I have raised on behalf of local people - affecting many viewers who get their TV signals from the Angus transmitter at Tealing, particularly those watching Freeview. The issue is covered in tonight's 'Evening Telegraph' - click on headline above to view the article. I have been in discussions this week with Digital UK's Assistant National Manager for Scotland following a mass of complaints about the quality of TV reception and, as a result, the Digital UK representative has agreed to investigate the issues ...
The Freedom Bill site reports that a poll carried out by PoliticsHome, has found that a massive 60 per cent of Britons are opposed to a Government directive that will see all phone calls, e-mails and internet activity stored for a year on behalf of the government. Only 23% of those polled were in favour of the scheme. A staggering 63% of those asked believe that the government already holds too much information on individuals with 56% increasingly concerned about the development of a 'Big Brother state'. Only 33% consider current levels of data retention to be 'about right'. Other ...
On Saturday at Welsh Liberal Democrat conference in Cardiff, a group of party members will be proposing a topical motion calling on the leadership to establish a Yes campaign for a law-making Welsh Assembly.Dominic Hannigan and I will be proposing the below motion in order to make sure that the devolution debate is led by federalists like ourselves, rather than Nationalists who risk wrecking any
Back in the 2001 Census, some 390,000 people listed their religion as 'Jedi' in England and Wales, and a further 14,000 did so in Scotland. I recall it well as I too entered that as my 'faith'. It seemed a reasonable set of ethics and ideals and I have no problem in doing so, yet disliked that the Office for National Statistics decided off its own bat to reclassify all those who had indicated their support of the Force as just 'Atheist'. It now seems that a FoI (Freedom of Information) request submitted to Strathclyde Police Force has shown that ...
Let's make this absolutely clear. A subsidy of between £2k and £5k on electric cars, starting 2011, is "Good" protectionism. All the other forms of protectionism are bad, but if it's the Green Industry? Well that's totally different. The Government has a problem - that problem is that people don't want electric cars. They want us [...]
