If like me you enjoyed Watchmen and/or are into fonts you will enjoy this interview... if not don't bother!
Tue 21st
23:50
On the tendancy of some Christians to imagine that Jesus invented happiness, love, generosity (etc).
A disgruntled reader posted this short rant as a comment to my "theist bus" post a few months ago: "Yep, do to others like you would you would have done to yourself, ready to forgive, generosity giving more happiness than gain - all totally out of date, 'bronze-age' principles and superstition... Awful spelling BTW." As for spelling, that has never been my strongest point, however the commentator obviously has a few problems all of his own. For starters, "Do as you would be done by" is a phrase commonly attributed to Epicurus, the Greek philosopher who lived circa 300 BCE. ...
First thing this morning I went to see about making a will. As I tweeted at the time, it does not shorten your life - unless you get knocked down by a car on the way home from the solicitor's. Whilst there I met another of the partners - an old friend who generally used to pip me to the coveted title of best chess player in Market Harborough. He told me that one of our team-mates from those days had recently died. Then it was off to London to interview Chris Huhne. While I was on the train to ...
Everything that Gordon Brown does is POLITICAL. That's why he's such a crap Prime Minister. Yes Politics and let's get this straight, psephology, is his guiding star - the problem is that he's not very good at it. The 10p fiasco was based around the old nostrum of `keeping the Lab/Con floating voter` happy in some [...]
Tue 21st
23:22
why did we have so few Ethnic minority councillors, why are most Councillors white.middle aged or re...
I am white married two kids 54 and own two cars. Do i fit the description of a local councillor? Why do we have such a poor mix. I look around the council chamber, no one of ethnic origin. a good mix of women. 70% over 60 what are we doing wrong. Any clue HELP. [...]
I don't think the general public have looked at every entrail or followed every detail regarding this story. What it has done is solidified some of our vote from `soft Labour` to `crumbly Labour` or `Probable`. There are communities that I poll that have a very strong Lib Dem candidate and for them the choice [...]
Something happens The tabloids cry: "Something must be done!" The Ministers shout: "We must do something!" A Special Advisor holds aloft a piece of paper: "This is something!" The Prime Minister sighs: "We have done something!" This month the something has been MP's expenses. Started by a plethora of ministers claiming second home expenses for sleeping at their mum's house or [...]
Well i have been in the party for years,and i have seen him chip away at that bloody great big majority she had, and now we have the boundary changes. With Swinton south Liberal, Weaste. Claremont,Liberal good vote in swinton north. pendlebury can be worked etc who knows. I really think he as a good chance if we [...]
Whilst the row about policing of the G20 protest in London grows, every day life in the ward continues with people seemingly being able to get away with breaking rules and being anti social - but there is just not enough proof of wrongdoing; or enforcers of any type (police, planning enforcement officers, housing officers) are just not able to take effective action. It isn't that they don't...
{stoneycroft-wall} I must admit, I haven't known whether to be terrified or amazed by Google Streetview. This is the new application that lets you view panoramic shots of entire streets. For a local example, see this shot of Staplehurst Road on the Hither Green Forum site. However, setting aside my uneasiness about the Orwellian nature of the whole thing, I am finding it incredibly useful as a councillor! I'm forever noticing potholes or missing street signs and then getting home having forgotten which house or landmark they are beside. Now if I haven't got a pen to scribble on the ...
Well I never thought that I would be the subject of a Labour smear e-mail, and especially not from an MP who claims he's above that sort of thing, but that's what's happened. My local Labour MP has sent out an e-mail around the constituency claiming that I said in a debate that I thought we should have sent aid to the Taleban. This is completely and utterly untrue, and what's more he knows it's untrue because when he suggested to my face that this was what I'd said I corrected him and he accepted that. What I did say, ...
I see that Iain Dale has done an excellent dissection on Gordon Brown's proposals for a vote on the issue of MPs expenses. Scheduled for a vote in 8 days time. In trying to do away with the smear and slime that is currently sticking to MPs and Labour high profile advisers Gordon Brown appears to have lost all sense of sensibility. He thinks he has made moves that will be popular with the people but they certainly are not the best possible moves that can be made. Both Nick Clegg and David Cameron had invited Gordon to sit down ...
For some time a dedicated band of local walkers and councillors have been working on a series of leaflets based on walks between local churches. The leaflets will be launched at an open event in Chipping Sodbury Town Hall on Saturday 2nd May from 10 am to 12 noon. There will then be an organised walk from St John's to St Mary's Church in Yate. Please come drop in, collect your FREE walks leaflets and maybe join us on the inaugural walk!
I was sad to hear yesterday of the death of JG Ballard as I have gained so much enjoyment from his books over many years. It's always hard to pick favourites amongst an author's work, but the ones that made most impression on me were probably 'The Kindness of Women' and 'High Rise'.
The last couple of days have seen a flurry of new, post-Easter weekend polls. As LDV's regular readers will know, we don't cover individual polls, preferring to round them up on a monthly basis rather than become over-excited by any one dire/fantastic survey which turns out to be a rogue. Brushing to one side the usual caveats for a moment, though, it does seem that the political situation has been left largely untouched by last week's 'Smeargate' row over Damian McBride emails. The Times's Sam Coates is not alone amongst the media in expressing some bafflement: 'broadly Smeargate has had ...
Finally, the press get round to debating whether A Leaky Chanter is part of a wicked Labour plot to smear the SNP. I say finally, because I first mentioned them in association with this over a week ago, even before Iain Dale. A Leaky Chanter is occasionally juvenile, usually amusing and, let's face it, is more Heat magazine than the Economist. Not surprisingly, some nationalists have been a bit sniffy about it, but then, they would be, woudn't they? It takes all sorts to make a blogosphere and, sure, if I was marooned on a desert island and told I ...
Ah Budget Day! What tradition, what *significance*. The journalistic references to the historic budgets of years past, while all the time most people are simply working out the immediate financial impact of what ever complex fiddles the Chancellor is prepared to impose upon us. The polices that are simply robbing Peter to pay Paul while trying, of course, to prevent Peter from noticing too much. Yet this year there is a certain ennui, a certain fatigue. The calculated posturings of the rather downbeat Chancellor will be met by the equally choreographed outrage of the Conservatives, as they struggle to work ...
Me, Mike Powell (Rhondda Cynon Taf Councillor) and Aled Morris Jones (Chair, Anglesey County Council) talk to Politics Cymru
Tue 21st
19:28
Clegg on Brown's MPs' expenses reforms: "Bringing the Brussels gravy train to Westminster is not the...
The Evening Standard billboards I walked past this evening proclaimed, more than a little hyperbolically, Brown axes MPs' expenses. The truth is a little more mundane - you can read the full text of the written statement from Commons leader Harriet Harman's statement to the Commons setting out Labour's proposed changes to MPs' expenses rules via the BBC HERE. The headline-grabbing announcement is the scrapping of the second homes' allowance, and its replacement with 'a flat-rate daily allowance, based on actual attendance at Westminster on parliamentary and government business or the business of the Opposition frontbenches' limited to the Parliamentary ...
Go on give us your thoughts will Labours rule collapse like Gordon Brown.
Commenting on today's announcement by the Government of plans to undertake research into the health of the children of nuclear test veterans, Liberal Democrat Shadow Defence Secretary, Nick Harvey said: "At long last the Government has recognised the concerns of the nuclear test veterans for their children. But what the veterans and their families need now is proper recognition and compensation,...
The Liberal Democrats today released a video of a journalist detained within the police cordon at the G20 protest. The video was taken by, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson, Tom Brake who was inside the kettle during the G20 protest at Bank as a legal observer. Commenting, Tom Brake said: "This video raises concerns about the relationship between the police and...
As the International Olympic Committee (IOC) co-ordination commission arrives in London to inspect preparations for the 2012 Olympics, the Liberal Democrats have called on IOC to cut back on its excesses. The cost of bidding for the Games, receiving repeated inspections and hosting the international delegates and their spouses in 2012 is expected to run into millions of pounds, as organisers are...
Commenting on Gordon Brown's proposals to reform MPs' expenses, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said: "I am looking forward to meeting Gordon Brown and David Cameron. We desperately need to sort out the lamentable system of MPs' pay and expenses once and for all." "My own proposals for the wholesale reform of the expenses system have already been published and I will be explaining...
The Liberal Democrats have highlighted an IPCC report which criticised the Police for obscuring them during the anti-hunting Bill protests in 2004, reinforcing the Inspector of Constabulary comments that the Police should always display their identification numbers The IPCC report in the pro-hunting demonstration in 2004, stated that: "Two such areas were quickly defined: firstly the...
Commenting on the news that the UK has experienced its first period of deflation in almost 50 years, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable said: "A gaping chasm is fast developing in the way inflation affects the rich and poor." "While those on higher incomes who have seen their mortgage costs plummet are now experiencing deflation, those on lower incomes whose money goes on...
After a long Law School meeting this afternoon I am pleased to report that the earlier decision to reduce the number of lectures by 10, per 20 credit unit, and replace them with 'surgery hours', has been reversed. The lack of involvement of course representatives in the working group, and the lack of consultation with students more generally was also recognised. There will be a review of teaching quality in the Law School in the future - as there rightly should be - but it will be less rushed, engaging more people, staff and students. I hope that next year's ...
Thousands of people in Bath will be taken out of income tax altogether by new tax proposals launched by the Liberal Democrats. And thousands more will see their income tax bill slashed by £700 a year. The plans were launched by Party Leader Nick Clegg on 20th April who said that they would boost family budgets battered by rising food, power and transport prices. The plans call for the...
Bath MP Don Foster has joined Liberal Democrats at Downing Street to campaign against the rise in beer duty that is due to be announced in tomorrow's [Wednesday] budget. Don said, "Rises in beer duty are only hitting the responsible drinker and the local pub, and destroying communities across the country. Pubs are closing daily across throughout Britain, including some calling 'time'...
Bath MP Don Foster has joined Liberal Democrats at Downing Street to campaign against the rise in beer duty that is due to be announced in tomorrow's [Wednesday] budget. Don said, "Rises in beer duty are only hitting the responsible drinker and the local pub, and destroying communities across the country. Pubs are closing daily across throughout Britain, including some calling 'time'...
I've just got word of another accident involving a pedestrian trying to cross the road. This time it happened at the junction of Pentonville Road and Penton Rise where a number 30 bus apparently collided with a 14 year old girl, presumably on her way home from school. I'm told that the girl is at UCLH [...]
(Also available on YouTube here.) No related posts.
Spoke to him today,and love him or leave him, he as -alls when the passion flows it comes out in buckets. Some say he may be a little rough round the edges but his heart is in the right place, he belives in his party and the people of this city. So if you like a [...]
Well sat at a meeting today and listened to a labour back bench member go on about the state of the roads in Salford. Well all i can say is dip your bread, we have been fighting for years. What do Salford Labour to nothing. Calcutta eat your heart out your roads are nearly as [...]
The form was sitting there to be filled in: "The fields marked with * Asterix are mandatory" Do you think someone should point out to them that "Asterix" was the Gaul in the French cartoon books?
The Stasi had the Traband. Britain's local councils have the Smart car. I consider myself a libertarian on civil liberty issues (although I do recognise the need for the state to have powers to tackle the threat of global terrorism) but I'm not one of those Guardian reading paranoid ones. We don't live in a police state where state agents go round beating people up and killing them! Well, so I thought. But I have been staggered from talking to friends about the blog I posted last night about the extent to which local councils are using surveillance operations to ...
While a lot more grisly than the hedgehog campaign (not too mention Charlie the cat and for those of us old enought to remember the squirrel...what was his name?), Tales of the Road seems to have caught the kids imagination... so well done to whoever was the brains was behind this cool campaign for road safety. Check out the website for more info, games and competitions for your children to help keep them safe on the roads.
I've been broadly supportive of our tax policy in the past, and the theme that has run through our proposals of establishing a greater degree of egality has been one that I can approve of. However, I do think that the new proposals are as good a reflection of what is needed at this time as I could hope for. I'm not a believer in punitive taxation - I just don't believe that disproportionately bleeding the rich actually works, and merely encourages tax avoidance and, indeed, evasion, on a massive scale. However, it seems grossly unfair to give those who ...
Chris Bates selected last night don't no much about him after start digging, Unless any Tory supporters will give us a bio? well we have the candidates. Just been at a meeting and heard Labour are out tonight, no there is no truth they are all issued with maps...
A Poll by Ipsos Mori has put the Liberal Democrats 8 points up putting their percentage at 22% which is the target I have set the party for the outcome of the next general election. The results of the poll are: CONSERVATIVES 41% (-1) LABOUR 28% (-4) LIB DEMS 22% (+8) This poll would have brought a smile to Nick Clegg's and the Liberal Democrats' faces especially the staff at Cowley street but something the party needs to do is maintain this poll result and achieve it at the polls when ever they might be. This poll result in my ...
Sometimes a concept just doesn't 'feel' right.There doesn't seem to be anything beyond the rules about a company I received a flyer from 'propertycashbuyer.co.uk' - but that doesn't mean the rules are right.Putting leaflets around a relatively poor area of Cardiff offering to help people in problematic financial situations by buying their home from them at a substantially reduced price may be (at
I turned on the ITV News last night to see what was effectively an obituary for Stephen Hawking. Lots of the great and the good talking about him in the past tense and reflections on aspects of the man, illustrating his sense of humour with his cameo on the Simpsons. It turns out he had gone into hospital with a chest infection. Whilst this could have been undoubtedly serious, he's not dead yet! I'm pleased to see that he's now expected to make a full recovery. However it seems now that the trend started with the coverage of Jade Goody's ...
The fate of soldiers involved in observing nuclear arms tests was brought to my attention a few years ago by a veteran living in Birkdale. I was therefore interested in reading of Nick Harvey's campaign on behalf of their children
The shocking news that the UK has finished close to the bottom of a European study on child wellbeing shows that our children are being systematically failed. There is simply no excuse for this to be the case in what is still one of the world's wealthiest countries. Of course it's not all about money, but we can't exactly hold our heads up high and say that anything like all our children are living in decent housing - and I don't mean luxurious, just warm, dry and functional. Nor can we say that they all get a decent education when ...
I couldn't help but smirk reading Charlotte Gore's latest blog and wonder if the irony of a self-professed 'libertarian' complaining about the net results of democracy and empowerment of individuals ie, party members is not lost on her. If we take into account the campaign of Liberal Vision's candidate for Party President we have seen a consistent pattern here of libertarians complaining about or trying to subvert inner party democracy. The Liberal Democrats are a 'Party for Lib Dems' screams her headline. Well, of course it is; it is only right that the members have the biggest stake and say ...
The Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, looked smugly satisfied when British and other Western delegates to the UN anti-racism conference in Geneva walked out yesterday, once he started his anti-Zionist and anti-Jewish rant. While his uncompromising words — including yet another questioning of the reality of the Holocaust — may have played to a certain radical gallery, [...]
I am writing this in the Liberal Democrat News office in Cowley Street, so let's be a party loyalist. Chris Huhne has revealed that an Independent Police Complaints Commission report issued three years ago, after the protests against the Hunting Bill in 2004, criticised police for obscuring their identification numbers. Chris says: "Three years ago, the IPCC raised concerns that some officers were obscuring their identification numbers during the pro-hunting demonstrations."It is deeply disappointing that this problem raised its ugly head again during the most recent protests, particularly when we were given firm assurances that it would not. "There have ...
I blogged earlier about how David Cameron was calling on Gordon Brown to call a general election on the same day as the European elections, the thread got an interesting comment that suggests David Cameron doesn't know election laws. You can read the comment below: This reveals Cameron for the light wieght (sic) he really is. Holding a GE on the same day as the EU elections is illegal under EU electoral law. If what the commenter has suggested is true this shows that David Cameron doesn't understand the laws connected with polling, imagine what this country would become with ...
Here's some music for you while you read my blog. Music composed by my great nephew, Steve George, and played by his band, The Blue Screen of Death with Steve on vocals/guitar: The Blue Screen of Death*
News just in that Adactus Housing Association has taken over the stock of Servite Housing Association in Birkdale. Two derelict sites in particular are of concern; the one in Upper Aughton Rd and the one behind Tommy Moore's on Liverpool Rd Richard Hand and I are already seeking a meeting with the new owners to see if we can get things moving
There has been a lot of concern recently about the pressure on primary school places in Kingston. Now I too would be worried if I had a young child. But it's easy to assume, wrongly, where the fault lies, and there have been some rather wild and unconsidered accusations flying around. The number of babies born to women living in the Royal Borough is hardly a secret, and it...
I've had a letter asking me for ideas for improving the Delph Playground on Thwaites Brow Road in order to get funding for it. I'd like to get ideas from people who live in Thwaites Brow. My email address ...
Was at the Eurovision London preview party - at which Svetlana Loboda from Ukraine stole the show. She has something and then there's the four Ukrainian hunks. A sozzled Paddy O'Connell didn't know where to put his face! This version has better sound
Well the British and Irish Lions squad has been announced. The final line up of players from English clubs is:Wing Ugo Monye (26) Harlequins and EnglandCentres Riki Flutey (29) Wasps and England Scrum-half Harry Ellis (26) Leicester and EnglandProp Phil Vickery (33) Wasps and EnglandEuan Murray (28) Northampton and Scotland Hooker Lee Mears (30)
Now we appear, as the polls currently stand, to be heading for a stratospheric Conservative majority at the next election it really is an excellent moment to look at the Conservative party's policies. Wouldn't that be good? Governments don't actually run countries based on their ability to "expose" conversations about a web site that never existed beyond a URL registration, after all, do they? Politics is in a mess, we are always told (and indeed it is to a large extent) and we need to reform Westminster. So let's see what the almighty David Cameron, statesman extraordinaire, proposes to reform ...
With the squeeze on public expenditure well and truly on, is it time to look at the Trident project? Obama's speech on nuclear disarmament has changed the context in which nuclear policy should be viewed. Clearly the need to look again at 'big ticket' arms expenditure requires us think carefully about the options. The decision to accept the present 'wait and see policy' was taken by a narrow margin after a good deal of leadership lobbying. If the party was given the opportunity to look again at its spending priorities in the new political context I wonder what the outcome ...
An almighty big fat penny has finally dropped in Brownland, causing a huge fat resonating CLUUNNNNNNKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!My flabber is well and truly gasted and I my hoop is a-cock. Gordon Brown is in serious danger of giving politics a good reputation.The controversial second home allowance for MPs could be axed within days now Prime Minister Gordon Brown has demanded an urgent Commons vote on
I stumbled across this oral question from Labour MP Dave Anderson in the House of Commons to Health Secretary Alan Johnson on 24th March:"Will the Secretary of State look into the situation where Newcastle hospitals have withdrawn from the joint partnership on laundry services with the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Gateshead in my constituency?"The question was a reasonable one to ask. Newcastle
The audio below is me on Wave 102 yesterday (I was also on Radio Tay) regarding the invitation I have sent to Susan Boyle to take part in the West End Christmas Week, later this year. Susan's performance on "Britain's Got Talent" was phenomenal and I have already had constituents suggesting to me that it would be great if she was willing to sing at our Christmas Week concert in the West End. Actually, its not the first time that a talent show success has taken part in West End Christmas Week - back in 2001 at the very first ...
Over the recess I spent a few days with the family in Alton Towers (www.altontowers.com). Plummeting down the vertical ride that is Oblivion is the best way that I've found to forget about Westminster. I'm glad I've got two boys in different age groups because it means I have an excuse to go on the full range of rides from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory through to Nemesis. The expression on Stephen's (4) face as we tore around on the Run Away Train was the a mixture of joy and extreme fear. It was only when he started to laugh ...
Yesterday's announcement by Nick Clegg that we were swapping our policy of a 4p cut in the basic rate of income tax, and replacing it with a substantial increase in the tax-free allowance should be welcomed with open arms. It is exactly the kind of liberal, forward-thinking policy that we need to be advocating, and a measure I've been supportive of for many years. As anyone who has read my previous posts on tax will know, I have been a long-standing supporter of the 4p cut, however, I feel this policy is now even better. Low and middle income earners ...
Just a quick couple of lines to congratulate the mighty Everton on making the FA Cup Final, with a hard-fought victory over Man Utd on Sunday, even if it was on penalties. The lads put in a brave, committed performance, despite missing players like Yakubu, Arteta and Jo, and have made it through to the club's first cup final for 14 years. Joleon Lescott and Phil Jagielka deserve particular praise - Lescott for a commanding defensive display, and Jagielka, for a solid performance alongside him, and crucially, having the bottle to step up and score the winning spot kick, despite ...
Each day as I go to work I drive past the new Longbridge Bypass roadworks on the A46 M40 junction. I am not sure whether this will make my journey to work any easier when it is finished. There can often be huge queues on the bypass, especially at rush hour. I found this website this lunchtime with lots of information on the work, pictures, plans and views of what it will be like when it is finished. http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/projects/4730.aspx
The 'Old Economic Model' which brought many years of economic growth relied on people spending beyond their means and getting into debt. People like Vince Cable warned against this, but Gordan Brown didn't listen, and now the bubble has burst - and we are all paying a very high price. We need a new model, the old one is broken. But what is this new model? What is going to drive growth in the fututre now that we cannot return to the old model? Or is infinite growth a Utopian fantasy, and that, apart from places like China and India, ...
I'd been putting off the visit for a while so wasn't quite sure what to expect. For those not familiar Bergen-Belsen was a concentration camp in Lower Saxony from the second world war - my grandfather had been in the liberation relief forces and I had been planning to for ages. Because of the typhus outbreak before, at liberation the camp was totally destroyed and burnt down and so it has the effect of being essentially a wooded park land with memorials and graves. But four kilometeres up the road, close to the village of Bergen itself are the rail ...
David Cameron has called Gordon Brown to hold a general election with the European and County elections in June as reported by The Sun. To read the report by the Sun follow the link to their website. Personally I think David Cameron is doing the right thing to challenge the Prime Minister to a general election but may I ask is the rest of the Tory party ready? Many Conservatives go into a state of mind of no return when they hear that Gordon Brown may call an early general election because they don't have the balls to fight an ...
(Copyright: Morris Dancer)It seems Nick Clegg just keeping schtum about Smeargate launched our MORI poll rating into the stratosphere - well, er, talking comparatively of course - up 8 points to 22%. Nose bleed territory for us.
Libby Purves writes about the event in the Daily Telegraph. And Matt Buck will be there.
Cross-posted from The Wardman Wire: The local elections scheduled for May have been postponed until June, so that polling day for them coincides with this year's European elections. European Parliament Due to the expansion of the EU, the number of British MEPs is being cut from 78 to 72: East Midlands 5 Eastern 7 London 8 North East 3 North West 8 South East 10 South West (including Gibraltar) 6 West Midlands 6 Yorkshire & the Humber 6 Wales 4 Scotland 6 Northern Ireland 3 (elected by STV rather than the party list system used in the other regions) The ...
I attended the chat session on Iain Dale's blog on Sunday night and one of the issues that arose was whether David Cameron should table a motion of no confidence in the government. Unsurprisingly, most of the participants in the poll voted 'yes' which given the parliamentary arithmetic seems on the surface like a slightly counter intuitive position. However, the most obvious case for a motion of no confidence is that it accurately represents how people feel. Even the recent ICM poll which seemed to show the government clawing back some points (we wait for MORI to see whether this ...
With the budget upon us I notice that Clegg and Cable (Anthony Hill would be jealous of the Cable tie) have been briefing the press on the Lib Dem approach along theses lines: It is clear that this recession demands a radical overhaul of the British tax system. It remains scandalous that the richest in our country pay a lower share of their wealth in tax than the poorest. We are demanding that both sides of this distorted equation be changed. We are renewing our call to close the loopholes exploit by big business and the powerful and wealthy. And ...
George Osborne's key job is to persuade us all that everything about the British economy is terrible, and made worse by Labour failures over the past twelve years. Fair enough, as he's hardly going to say that they've done a good job and, in truth, the economy is in pretty grim shape. With unemployment heading towards three million, the banks not lending, and homes being repossessed at the fastest rate since the early nineties, you wouldn't want to run for office on the basis of the success of the British economy. However, you do have a responsibility to demonstrate some ...
I've had many conversations about the lack of a liberal grassroots movement, the necessary prerequiste for a future liberal Government. Here's where I admit I was wrong. I was wrong... well, not wrong to say we need it. I was wrong to think it didn't exist already. There is a liberal grassroots movement, and joyfully it's the, "Free Trade, [...]
As if things could not look any gloomier financially this morning's Western Mail offers the prospect of a £1 billion cut in the Welsh Assembly's budget by 2014. They have calculated that this is the Barnett consequential of the £15 billion worth of savings that the Chancellor of the Exchequer is poised to find as part of tomorrow's budget. What the paper fails to mention of course is that this is the worst-case scenario and that in actual fact the impact on Wales depends on where the cuts are made. If, for example the Government decided to reach its target ...
There are many kinds of blog. There are the twee, the trite and the trivial, the big the bold and bombastic. There is now a vast ocean of blogs in the blogosphere. Yet, like so many other things, there is emerging a pareto distribution of inequality in the blogosphere. There are the powerhouse industrial blogs, like Political Betting and there are the cottage industry blogs, into which category this blog increasingly falls. There are those that can regularly get a thousand comments a day and whose readership is rather larger than such magazines as the New Statesmen, and those where ...
A fascinating excerpt from Paddy Ashdown's autobiography. After he admitted to an affair with his secretary:Jane (his wife) received a string of most unpleasant letters and phone calls while, in my constituency, anonymous flyers were circulated purporting to be a message from an entirely mythical "love child", saying I had abandoned her."All this made life for my family even more difficult and
Time was the announcement of Lib Dem taxation policies would have been almost entirely ignored. And, if they were covered, the focus would have been exclusively on the 'U-turn' element of yesterday's announcement that the party has dropped its less-than-a-year-old pledge to cut income tax by 4p in favour of raising the personal tax allowance threshold to £10,000. But that time was Before Vince. Today, there is much positive coverage (in the former broadsheets anyway) of the Lib Dems' tax-cutting pledge. Let's start with The Independent's glowing editorial: ... the Liberal Democrats have been ahead of the pack in policy ...
The Sun is one of a number of media outlets giving a somewhat hysterical reaction to some research from Dr Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Apparently overweight people (or "murderers" as it appears they should now be known) are responsible for all the floods, fires, storms, droughts and shrinking ice caps caused by global warming. The actual research paper hasn't yet been published (and reading the full paper will cost money)*, so I assume the media are basing their reporting on the press release, as usual. The press release may or ...
Me with my hero at last night's launch of "A Fortunate Life" - Paddy Ashdown's autobiographyWARNING: This post contains scenes of unctous and distressing sycophancy.I was fortunate enough to be invited by the excellent Iain Dale to last night's Total Politics "Evening with Paddy Ashdown". It was held in a very swanky hotel off Millbank in London, and included a decent smattering of the LibDem
Tue 21st
09:00
Day 3032: Hard Labour offer spending cuts; Conservatories offer spending cuts; Liberal Democrats off...
Monday: Can you afford to cut taxes in a recession? The REAL question is, surely, can you afford NOT to? Although the BANKING crisis has derailed a lot of businesses and caused a lot of job losses and repossessions, that's not the WHOLE story of this recession: don't forget that there was a BIG jump in a lot of everyday prices last year, in particular FOOD, and that inflation is still going on hurting more people at a time when their bosses may be telling them they can't have a pay rise or that they have to work fewer hours. ...
This review of Tony Blair: In His Own Words by Tony Blair and Paul Richards (2004) first appeared in 2004. This collection brings together forty-three of Blair's speeches, articles and similar items stretching from 1982 to 2004. The quote on the inner flap is typical Blair: "I want us to be a young country again. With a common purpose. With ideals we cherish and live up to. Not resting on past glories. Not fighting old battles." It has visionary rhetoric, displaying a real verbal oratorical style (so rare in politicians these days) with a sparseness with words and verbs - ...
At least, according to Dean Baker. His argument seems to boil down to this:Fixing the banks does something about the supply of loans. There are four big sectors. Household spending, construction, big company investment, small company investment. The first two can't recover because they needed a housing bubble, and there is now a glut of housing. The big companies are in no difficulties and are investing just as much as they want. The small ones may need finance, but are not big enough to make much difference. Ergo, spending money rescuing banks is a criminaly unjust waste:"The word from this ...
conservative - resistant to change conservative - having social or political views favoring conservatism conservative - cautious: avoiding excess; "a conservative estimate" conservative - a person who is reluctant to accept changes and new ideas conservative - button-down: unimaginatively conventional; "a colorful character in the buttoned-down, dull-grey world of business"- Newsweek conservative - bourgeois: conforming to the standards [...]
Christopher Gill, who was Conservative MP for Ludlow between 1987 and 2001, has written to the Shropshire Star saying: In future I shall most assuredly be voting for the UK Independence Party because it is the only moderate, non-sectarian party that is committed to getting us out of Europe while at the same time encouraging free trade and friendship with our continental neighbours.
Well the paper work says Salford is Good! So i took a stroll around yesterday. The roads are falling apart. The Bins to recycle are still coming. People seem to have a shorter life span. People complain of streets which are no go areas. Kids slipping through the net leaving school with no prospects No jobs. No future. No affordable housing No Social [...]
There must be something in the water in Wales that instils deep confidence in our leaders. The Welsh Lib Dems' leader, Kirsty Williams, has her 'Project 31', with its aim of propelling the party into majority government in the Welsh Assembly. And speaking to BBC Wales last week, ahead of the party's Welsh conference, national leader Nick Clegg declared his determination that the Lib Dems should push Labour into third place in this June's elections to the European Parliament. The party has done this just twice in its recent history, and both times - 2004 and 2008 - were according ...
Tue 21st
07:23Looking Forward to starting in the Irwell Riverside Campaign with our Man Steve Middleton
Well going out on the streets with our man this week,and at 54 with a bad back i really need something to stir me.I think this guy can do it. So bring it on LABOUR, sorry and the Tories.
Well The Times is running a story today about A Leaky Chanter being the Red Rag of Scotland. it even quotes a week old post by Iain Dale which calls them attack blogs. But the Times is showing a bit off sloppy journalism when it says, "The respected Labour blogger Tom Harris MP has a link to A Leaky Chanter on his site" as if that was damning evidence that it was Labour run. But hang on a second thinks I the Scottish blogosphere is very incestuous when it comes to links so I checked out some of last years ...
Isn't the new Lib Dem tax policy grand? We got real proper news airtime and everything! There, that's political blogging out the way for the moment. In other news, I have been v v v busy setting up for the shiny new internet future! I have mentioned Dreamwidth already. The plan is to move over there lock, stock and two smoking barrels when my paid account on LJ runs out, in August. At the moment, this is having a number of effects:I am not posting at theyorkshergob as much, because I am over at DW setting stuff up and such ...
Sunday: Censorship, eh. Apparently Mr Almondy Noochy's film "In the Loop" is TOO RUDE for a fluffy elephant to go and see it. Did that stop me? What the CAPALDI do you think! Everyone is RIGHT: it is a VERY FUNNY FILM, although as it gets into the last act, you tend to stop laughing because you realise that it is all too TRUE. Everyone is RIGHT AGAIN: the funniest bit is the UNINTENTIONALLY PRESCIENT moment about expenses claims and the "adult" channel, although the scene where Mr Peter Capaldi and Mr Tony Soprano go toe-to-toe is AMAZING acting too. ...
