News reaches us via Conservative Home and the Telegraph that Norsheen Bhatti, the Liberal Democrat PPC for Chelsea and Fulham, has defected to David Cameron's party. It is odd that Tory Chairman (and Lib Dem Voice favourite) Eric Pickles suggested to The Telegraph that the environment was one area where his party shares Liberal Democrat values. As the paper notes, Ms. Bhatti's own website was criticising the Tories' sabotage of the Lib Dem bill against fuel poverty only last month. Ms. Bhatti's move comes hot on the heels of news that Tory A-List candidate Beverly Nielsen has defected to the ...
Irrelevant blog update! Originally a 'Carpenters' song, and one of their best - but not most successful - Matthew Sweet (aided by Richard Carpenter) here with a brilliant version of his own. See www.matthewsweet.com.
A Tory Taunton Deane Borough Councillor has been sent on a diversity course for comments she made during a planning committtee in the summer of 2008. She has been found to be in breach of the code of conduct which indicates a level of respect between members and the public. "The summary of the complaint was that on 11 June 2008 at the Planning Committee Councillor Webber made a comment regarding a gypsy application and said words to the effect: "I have heard some excuses for a gypsy applying for planning but this is the worst"." Also, a subsequent 'abusive' ...
Regional Conference time for Northern Regional Lib Dems. I hadn't been for a while because of mayoral duties so it was really good to meet up with old friends and meet new people. We had an interesting programme with some good snippets and ideas as well as launching our Euro election campaign, with Fiona Hall, our MEP, in good form and a relaunched website Our new Party President...
From the Sunday Times: Two Labour peers at the centre of the lords for hire scandal have been found guilty of misconduct by a sleaze inquiry and face suspension from parliament, according to senior House of Lords sources.Senior peers have concluded that Lord Taylor of Blackburn and Lord Truscott have broken the code of conduct of members of the upper house.The investigation began after undercover Sunday Times reporters posing as lobbyists found that the two peers were prepared to help to amend legislation in return for cash.They could now be barred from parliament for up to a year and lose ...
Dear Readers, Today your blogger has seen something that no one else should have to ever see in their life, but they might do if they live in Pendle. I have seen a image that will scare young children and hospitalise them I warn you its not a pretty image. I saw an image of a thing that has no heart or soul, a thing so hideous that people still remember its name on the streets of Pendle. The thing that used to tell people about the bad and then joint the people who created bad, it was terrible dear ...
Having a devious, scheming mind myself, I've often been known to speculatate about ulterior motives for legislation from this Government, often considering the unintended (or otherwise unnoticed) consequences. Guido's reminded me of something I wrote on the 'Suing Bloggers' story that hit the blogosphere a while ago. I had a slightly different take on the issue, [...]
A story for our times from the Shropshire Star: A leading Telford magistrate and former Oakengates mayor has quit the bench after being reported for posting details of cases he dealt with on the Twitter social networking site.Professor Steve Molyneux, an expert in the uses of information technology and a magistrate for 16 years, told fellow Twitterers on one occasion how he sat "in the Gods passing sentence on the criminal fraternity".
After a frustrating week away from Cornwall, working. I returned last night to carry on my campaign so today I spent a fair portion of the day delivering soggy newspapers in the villages and collecting names for my nomination paper. Lots of people out and long drives to walk up in the rain with, and maybe this is a Cornwall thing, no post box! ... no really they simply don't have one, your just expected to open the door (not locked of course) and throw the mail in ! At one point with the rain pouring down and the wind ...
This should be fun. Nadine Dorries, the Tory MP for Mid-Bedfordshire, wrote on her blog this afternoon: I have instructed and proceeded with legal action. Obviously, I am not going to say anything at all at this stage, other than that.Guido Fawkes speculates on the background.
Well we a great day in Irwell Riverside Can't keep our man down meeting the people and pulling in the case work allready. I felt like Cllr Owen had never been away from the place. Says a lot when he knows half the residents we met by name.Keep it up steve the Liberal Democrat team [...]
The coming General Election hopefully won't be held at the very last possible minute, because not even Brown would be that stupid... would he? To be remembered as the Prime Minster that had to be dragged kicking and screaming out of office, like a gambler chasing his losses needing to be thrown out of a [...]
In the Guardian centre spread today there's a photo of Alistair Darling having breakfast "in No 11 Downing Street". No sign of Gordon there in the kitchen. I thought Monsieur Brown and his family lived in the No. 11 flat...didn't Blair live in No 11 because of his family while Brown lived in No 10 because he didn't have a family when he was Chancellor? Then Brown became Prime Minister and moved
Sat 25th
18:22
Smannell Lib Dems through their weight behind Nick Cleggs campaign to allow ex Gurkhas to remain in ...
There are times in your life when you have to use the word "disgraceful" and every supporter of Gordon Brown and the Labour Party should hang their heads in shame after yesterday cowardly decision to discriminate against ex Gurkhas. The Gurkhas who fought alongside my grandfather and father, (a life long labour supporter) in the First and Second World Wars would be turning in their graves if they heard the news. Smannell Liberal Democrats today threw its weight behind the brave Gurkhas right to settle in the UK despite attempts by Gordon Brown's "morally bankrupt" Labour government imposing punitive conditions ...
Something very unusual happened at the end of Othello last night at the Rose. The audience sat there, stunned by the intensity and honesty of Othello's final speeches. Then the murdered Desdemona got off the bed, and the cast took a bow. I was just wondering how on earth I was going to make the transition from the raw emotion in the theatre to the normal chat of the real world, when...
Today's qualifying session for tomorrow's Bahrain Grand Prix saw a stunning improvement from Toyota which enabled Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock to capture the front row of the grid. Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton and Rubens Barrichello make up the next two rows. Mark Webber for Red Bull should have been up there too and I think would have been if he hadn't been blocked in an outrageously bad display of driving from Force India's Adrian Suthil. He first blocked Webber at the last corner at the end of Q1and then basically cut him up as he tried to ...
I have been keeping an eye on the "Gordon Brown resign" petition on the Number 10 petitions site today and I noticed something a bit odd. at around 15:30, the number was at 6,828 but half an hour later the number was at 6,825. Only 30 seconds or so after I saw the reduced number I had another look and it had then gone up to 6,916. I have the browser instances open separately although there are no timestamps for them. Now I am not sure what this means. I cannot see a facility for signatories to remove their name. ...
Sat 25th
17:24
This is what Liberal Democrats do better than any of the other Parties,get on the ground floor with ...
Councillor Owen and other local Liberal Democrat Councillors join the peoples fight to save Salfords Heritage. One more part of the city sold for peanuts?
Sat 25th
17:20
Opinion: How the Prospect of a Hung Parliament could bolster a Liberal Democrat Election Campaign
Discussion surrounding 'Hung Parliaments', prospective coalition deals and the Liberal Democrats are as familiar to supporters of our party as any issue of policy or leadership. In an attempt to add something new to this longstanding debate, this article outlines a strategy for how the party could tackle the question of how it would act in a Hung Parliament in the next General Election campaign. I am convinced that, if managed correctly, drawing attention to the prospect of the Liberal Democrats holding the balance of power could prove to be an electoral asset, as opposed to an issue that causes ...
Merlene Toh Emerson, LibDem PPC for Hammersmith, and I joined in the festivities with about 15,000 Singaporeans and friends in the park at Hampton Court this afternoon, at a Singapore 2009 event — one of several taking place around the world. The mood was good, not least because the weather was better than forecast and [...]
My employers have asked me to get stuck into making an iPhone application. I sighed and said, "I'm going to need a Macbook then, I'm afraid." It's a hard life. I'm reliably informed by Stuart Sharpe that iPhone development isn't for women or something, which effectively means it's now my life mission's to build the world's [...]
As I am someone who doesn't live in London the only thing that I can tell you about Jonathan Fryer and his campaign to get elected as the second Liberal Democrats MEP is that he is a man of principal. Jonathan has been a member of the Liberal Democrats for quiet a while and has campaigned to get to the European Parliament for a while, and personally I think people should just value his commitment. Jonathan has the C.V to be a great MEP, he has what it takes and he is in love with Europe, all these reasons add ...
This morning, I assisted the folk from West End Community Council with a litter pick. In a couple of hours, we managed to remove lots (and lots!) of litter in Perth Road, Ford's Lane, Pennycook Lane, Hawkhill and Roseangle. This has become a regular activity by the Community Council and is very worthwhile.
We do an awful lot of travelling, and are often put up for the night by local members in their homes. They are most gracious, and their hospitality is greatly appreciated. Last night was no exception, although there was a twist. Our hosts for the dinner last night were Diana and Ian, who own a listed Georgian house within the walls of Berwick which is utilised as a bed and breakfast. But not just any old bed and breakfast, by no means.Northumberland House is the kind of bed and breakfast that you always hope that you've booked into. The rooms ...
Conservative Councillor Jim O'Shea was arrested last year and released on bail, but the news has only just been reported. From This is Local London: A SENIOR Tory councillor has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud. Monkhams ward Cllr Jim O'Shea, Of Repton Park in Woodford Green, is currently on bail while police investigate the allegations. The former deputy mayor and cabinet member for planning and regeneration declined to comment on the revelation, which only emerged after an anonymous letter arrived at the Guardian. A well-placed source attributed the tip-off to infighting between high ranking members of the ...
In the words of Peter Black AM, this is "threatening to be the next big internet viral after Susan Boyle." Unelected, and seemingly unaccountable, Gordon Brown has led this country to the edge of the precipice. We are experiencing officially the worst economic crisis since World War II, with full recovering likely to be more than 10 years away. His government has nearly bankrupt the country's coffers, and ensured that every child of this generation will be in debt to the tax man for decades, with little to show for it. Gordon Brown's claim to economic competence is in tatters, ...
The Gurkhas have fought gallantly for Britain for centuries. It is shameful the way the Labour Government are now treating them.
When Iain Dale linked to a live chat with Ed balls which was being run by my local paper the Lancashire Evening Post, I thought result lets go ask the **** about his connection with the Red Rag but was I wrong. The people who ran the forum didn't have a clue what was going on and personally I don't think they had trialed the whole thing out. All my questions asked Balls about the Red Rag didn't even appear in the forum because someone was censoring them and didn't want the question to prom up, personally I am not ...
"By the time you receive this I will be dead, having committed suicide. I hope you feel very proud of yourselves...I will haunt you for the rest of your miserable stinking rotten life..." The system finally got to Neil Hill, lifelong community fighter, and Salford Star contributor and distributor. "No dust settles on me matey!!!" [...]
Writing solely in my capacity as a councillor:As already mentioned, another thing troubling me about Cllr Adje is whether or not he had any private meetings or dealings with Firoka, the Ally Pally developer, during the crucial period when the disastrous licence agreement with the company was reached. It's important as we need to know whether, or how, the negotiations regarding the Firoka licence may have proceeded at such private meetings.Martin Walkate, who investigated, has issued two reports on the issue. In 'Walklate 1', published last year, he says the following (para 64): "Councillor Adje, although also certain of the ...
It's a Festival! Of Beer! Less than a week to go to beer festival at work, and the nerves are starting to set in. Vicky and I have decided on wearing some kind of May Queen getup, since it will be MayDay on the first day of the festival. This might mean a trawl through the charity shops on Monday to find some not-black clothes... Anyway, if anyone is free next weekend, and in the area, do feel free to pop in. We will have lots of beer and you can come and point and laugh at me behind the ...
The 140 million year reign of the dinosaurs on the Earth ended abruptly without any discernible human scientific explanation. Most dinosaurs were vegetarian and therefore depended on plants, as a main source of food supply, just as we humans do today. Was there a dramatic change in temperature as a result of climate change during an earlier pandemic of global warming? In the US, the first half of 2006 was the warmest since records began! Australian bee keepers now regularly ship bee swarms to California to pollinate and make viable the lucrative fruit, like blueberry cash crops. Since 2006, about ...
Ros and I are in Gateshead today, where the Regional Conference is taking place in the Civic Centre on a sunny day. I emphasise the 'sunny day' element because the last time we were in the North East, the weather was, for the most part, pretty grim. The council chamber is traditionally Labour in style, with a National Union of Mineworkers banner on the wall, a lot of brown and beige, and very few places to plug in a laptop computer. It is, however, a very nice place to hold a conference with comfortable seats, good acoustics and excellent sight ...
The Guardian is reporting that the rate of child trafficking has increased by 50% in two years. Read the actual report and you get a slightly different story. The study identified 325 potential victims of trafficking, up around 50% on a similar study a couple of years ago. But The numbers are low. If you're talking about something that affects a few hundred people from a population of millions, talking about jumps of 50% isn't helpful.They are potential victims. That means they fit a profile where the agencies involved believe that they're likely to be victims. The study rated how ...
I've now had a chance to discuss issues raised by the Post in it's article on children drug dealing on Hexham estate with residents, Police and Council officers and it appears as I feared that this sensationalist article does not paint an accurate picture of life on the estate. It would not be appropriate for me to go into detail here about what the Police told me about the case or the circumstances aroudn it. However what we did agree is that more work does need to be done to ensure we have an active Police presence on the estate. This ...
Gordon Brown's resignation petition that I mentioned yesterday is now shooting up the charts on the Number 10 petitions site. It now has 6,035 signatures already (up from 706 at about 3pm yesterday). Many other bloggers have been promoting the fact that it is there. I have not yet seen any coverage in the MSM but someone in it will surely pick up on this soon. I know they keep a close eye on the blogosphere. They are probably just waiting for it to become properly newsworthy and I predict that will be once it gets to the top of ...
When Iain Dale blogged about Jack Jones and criticised him I was a little worked up but didn't know how to word a blog post without getting the whole blogosphere worked up so for that reason I censored myself but this blog post by Recess Monkey sums everything up. You can read the Monkey's post below: At the time, I didn't know what to think. I had an emotional up-welling of frustration that she had never been held to account for her direct attacks on working communities and her engineering of a "me-first" society, which we are still trying to ...
Vince Cable has a budget special piece in yesterday's Independent: This is a time for grown-up debate. The deficit is too big and the public is too cynical of politicians to be taken in by vague, unspecific, promises. The only way forward is to identify, explicitly, areas of government activity which will have to be cut right back. My party has already identified several specific cuts - like the ID card scheme; the NHS IT project; "baby bonds"; refusing unlimited taxpayer subsidies for nuclear power. We believe that there now has to be a serious debate about how to scale ...
Up to 100 police officers were called in from central London and other boroughs, including the Territorial Support Group in full riot gear, police dogs and the Met Police helicopter. says the report in the News Shopper on the so called St George's Day celebrations in Bexley Village on Thursday night. We had driven through the village not long before it all kicked off, and there were a lot of very
Sometimes, you escape the hurly burly of 'retail politics' and do something more, dare I say it, genteel. Last night, Ros and I were in Berwick, attending a dinner and politics evening in the home of one of the members. Over an excellent homemade dinner, the conversation ranged across the political arena (excluding the budget, unexpectedly), before we settled on a discussion of the local aim to create a university college for Berwick. Berwick-upon-Tweed is now one of the British towns furthest from a university and, with the government's declared aim to expand the tertiary sector, a group of community ...
As the Conservative Cabinet in B&NES Council prepares to finally reveal plans to combat the recession, Bath MP Don Foster is calling on the local authority to implement plans that will make a difference. Don spoke to local business owners in January and devised an 8-point plan to help boost the economy, which he submitted to the Chief Executive of the Council and all four group...
The air of almost perpetual crisis that hangs around this government is getting thicker by the day. Yesterdays Yorkshire Evening Post reports that Colin Burgon, Labour MP for Elmet, is to stand down at the next election. Burgon, who won the seat in 1997, also took a swipe at the governments handling of the economy; "The 'New Labour' approach to the market economy is both wrong and lacks the kind of values that have served this party so well in difficult times in our history." Coupled with Alice Mahon's resignation what we can see is a clear hemorrhaging away from ...
Edit 25 April for some reason WordPress broke the links in this. Fixed now. Only a few (if any) of you will be interested in this, but Inform 7, the programming language for text adventure games (Interactive Fiction) has released a new version, along with a new, much-improved website. Those of you who enjoy writing really should [...]
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Bath MP Don Foster has vowed to continue lobbying the government over controlling urban gulls, following the disappointing response in his adjournment debate yesterday [Thursday]. Don said, "While clearly the main focus of the government should be dealing with the financial crisis, it does not mean that they should be ignoring other issues. "The government...
I infrequently read Chris Paul's `Labour of love` - it must take a whole lot of angst and bile to write what he does. He's like those in the Downing Street bunker although for the North West. One question I'd like him to ask him is this: Will the Lib Dems hold Rochdale and Manchester Withington constituencies? [...]
I see that Joseph Nicolosi visit to London to speak to an Anglican group today to talk about curing homosexuality has already sparked response from Costigan Quist and Andrew Reeves. With someone revising for exams this week I've been getting the odd rant about somethings that are written in the core psychology texts for all students in the UK. I was waiting for him to get the citations for me as the books are loaned from a friend but I feel you need to see them now. 'psychotherary also deals with socially sensitive issues such as curing conditions such as ...
Just in case you haven't seen it yet, here's one of the highlights.
When will the election come? the burning question, But what concerns me more is what is a priority for New Labour may be of little concern for the tories, We have the media city complex will the tories be as keen? what do you think. With the level of borrowing labour have taken up how will [...]
There are good examples of e-government and there are bad ones. The Number 10 petition site is one of the worst. It allows people to let off steam but it does not go anywhere. There is no transparent process for feeding petitions into the mechanism of government or for demonstrating how they are being considered nor for what the outcome is. That is a direct contrast to the Welsh Assembly's own e-petition site. This petition calling on the Prime Minister to resign is doubly certain to be ignored therefore, even though it has already attracted 5,400 plus signatures and is ...
Labour leadership contender, Huw Lewis has joined in my criticism of anonymous smears today with a report in this morning's Western Mail of a speech he gave in Aberavon last night. He told activists that Welsh politics is contaminated with a dangerous obsession with attacking personalities at the expense of promoting ideas. He went on to say that rampant attacks on leading figures within the Welsh political establishment are so routine a scandal along the lines of Downing Street's "smeargate" e-mail controversy would barely register: Mr Lewis said: "There is something rotten at the heart of Welsh politics today. "The ...
Given the bloody infighting in our own Tories ( and check out the Tory squabbles label below) I was interested to note this story that slipped out in a national paper. Of deeper significance -as it illuminates the character of the man who would be PM is Iain Sharpe's bit over on Eaten by Missionaries
You would think that if the Prime Minister is going to come to Wales then he will at least do his homework. Alas, it appears that is not the case. Gordon Brown was in Swansea's Brangwyn Hall last night to address the Welsh Labour Party Conference. Afterwards he gave interviews with journalists and was quizzed on how his criticism of the Conservatives as the party of cuts squared with "efficiency savings" totalling hundreds of millions of pounds that the Welsh Government will have to impose as a result of a downwards adjustment in the amount of money coming from the ...
I carried out this interview with Duncan Brack for the Journal of Liberal History in 2000, at a time when Charles Kennedy was Liberal Democrat leader, William Hague was Conservative leader and Tony Blair was approaching his first general election since becoming Prime Minister in 1997. Jeremy Thorpe was elected as leader of the Liberal Party in January 1967. When he took over from Jo Grimond, the party's support seemed stuck at no more than 10%, as the country swung away from Labour towards Ted Heath's Conservatives; in the 1970 election, the Liberals polled just 7.5% and lost half their ...
Well, do I start with the Gurkhas and the Governments decision or the fact that next week the Interception Modernisation Programme goes to the House of Commons? Not now, I will blog later about those. I'm going to talk (rant) about Joseph Nicolosi, a psychologist who claims he can "cure homosexuality". He's in London to address a religous conference held by the the Anglican Mainstream group. My message to Joseph Nicolosi is I'm gay, and very proud of it so bog off. Being gay is not a disease, I think realistically I knew when I was about 9 or 10. ...
My two weeks of holiday were superb. Two weeks of good food and local wine, no TV, no internet access and no telephone were just what the Doctor ordered before another round of electioneering. That, and considerably more sleep than I usually manage to have at home. We stayed in a small village with just 7 houses so needless to say there was no light or noise pollution at night - perfect for light sleepers. I'm fairly enthusiastic at the best of times but at the moment I am more energetic than usual. I am however board gamed out for ...
It's as official as it can be at this stage. Cllr Charles Adje is going to resign as lead member for resources, following a series of scandals, for which his colleagues have (totally inexcusably) failed to take action themselves to remove him from his post. Yet very big questions remain about his conduct during his period in office. The Ham and High has the story here. In an editorial titled "Charles Adje: where did it all go wrong", the paper says that "Some would say he got too big for his boots in believing he could become the saviour of ...
Doctors are criticising plans to promote make me straight style treatment at religious conferences. The claim is that psychological treatment can cure two out of three gayers of their evil afflication and, in the process, bring them closer to God and salvation. This isn't something most mainstream Christians would have anything to do with, but confusingly a group called Anglican Mainstream (which seems to be pretty hardline anti-gay) is promoting it. It's all very well saving the gays from themselves, but what about straight men. Whilst our gay compatriots need only turn up to a club or log onto a ...
If Gordon Brown's Labour Government were a person, I'd probably feel quite sorry for it. It's clearly suffering the symptoms of burnout and stress. It's flailing as it tries to cope with a constantly changing (and not for the better) economic situation. Its ministers seem detached, uncaring and cynical and even the Prime Minister himself has publicly and for no good reason made the most elementary and incomprehensible errors of judgment. For me, the absolute low came yesterday. I cringed as I watched Phil Woolas stand there and attempt to justify the complete abdication of fairness and decency that was ...
Good news as, to quote the press release from a few days ago: After a six-year campaign local Liberal Democrats in Alexandra ward have welcomed the announcement last week of the start of consultations on the introduction of a Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) ban and traffic calming measures. From 14th April until 12th May local residents in the Palace Gates triangle area will be asked their opinion on traffic calming, including a 20mph limit and an HGV ban in the local area. Also in April local residents in the rest of the affected area will be consulted on the plan ...
Poll: Budget 2009 How will the budget affect you? Better off 11% Worse off 77% No difference 12% But of course New labour supporters think it's a good budget, well let's see what the people decide when the time comes. I am sure our party leaders will allow us to comment. [...]
Loads of people walk past this building and don't really pay attention to it... It's the Willesden and St Marylebone Sea Cadet Corps... http://units.ms-sc.org/willesden/Default More on the Sea Cadets here: http://londonarea.ms-sc.org/Home The amazing thing about this building is that it's designed like a church, is corrogated iron and concrete blocks, it's listed, and the interior defies all imagination. The interior of the building is laid out like the exterior of a ship! TS Bicester! It's true - if you are passing and there's a fete or anything on do do do take the chance to pop in - it's Cambridge ...
Sat 25th
07:42Next time your Councillor or someone knocks on asking for your Vote use the check list below and see...
councillor: provides a voice for and help to all members of the community makes decisions on behalf of residents contributes to council policy and strategy has responsibility for scrutiny (checking and monitoring what the council does) has regulatory duties (making sure laws are kept to, e.g. planning and licensing) is a community leader What does a councillor do for us? holds surgeries, where [...]
Sat 25th
07:34Do you belive in open transparant Government local or National the Liberal Democrats do how about La...
In our Council we have a group called the LPGD, a fantastic idea where councillors can discuss issues within there areas,with police and partner agencies. I felt this was an area where cross party working could work. Except with labour not a cat in hells chance, we have to leave the room why, so we [...]
For the last 2 months I have been preparing for a "Quality Assurance" visit from the Institute of Chartered Accountants. You have to open up your whole company to be reviewed particularly the quality of your audit work. Its the accounting equivalent of an ofsted inspection. I have to say its pretty nerve racking stuff because at the end of the day they can take your livelihood away. Fortunately it all went well. We are not perfect but we demonstrated we are a very good practice with high standards. The inspector himself was a thoroughly decent chap who I even ...
It's well over a year since I was last at the theatre — odd, really, when one considers that after I quit Reuters in Brussels in 1974, I spent much of the rest of my time in that city as a theatre critic. Anyway, I was invited to go along to the Duchess Theatre in [...]
The Liberal Democrats have always campaigned to give the Gurkha's the same rights as the ordinary resident of this country, the Lib Dems have campaigned and to date have already got the Gurkha's rights e.g. all who retired after 1997 are given British citizenship but all those who retired before 1997 have not been given these rights. Personally I am sickened by this, my grandparents are from Pakistan they came to help this country when it was on its knees, the Gurkha's did more then help this country they saved this country and they deserve citizenship. The Labour party should ...
