{Ed at the book 'stall'} Ed at the book 'stall' Yesterday's Neighbourhood Day seemed to be a big success. Ed and I manned a book 'stall' outside the library - which was a great opportunity to chat with everyone passing by. I also managed to see some of the other stalls and activities - for instance the pin the organ on the skeleton (pictured). Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves - and the weather was excellent. Well done to Helen Riley and the Stroud Green Residents Association for organising the day. This was only the second year it has been ...
The Zombies' album Odessey And Oracle is one of the few 'classic albums' that happens to really be the best album of the band's career. While many Beach Boys albums are at least as good as Pet Sounds, Revolver beats Sgt Pepper hands down, and Da Capo is half a better album than Forever Changes, [...]
Today was our 24th wedding anniversary, and as anybody can see, we look exactly the same as we did then. But JW, present at the time, has changed a bit. Sorry to say he has beaten me twice 2-0 this weekend and its becoming a nasty habit. Both games were 21-19 today. Yesterday evening we went to Victoria and Alan's for her 50th birthday party but I forgot to take the camera.
Rather than producing something constructive (like an actual post), I spent the afternoon engrossed in the bloggers' equivalent of flicking through the Dulux sample book: hunting for a new Wordpress theme. I liked the idea of a more islandy look so settled on this one, give or take a few template tweaks. And the simple act of changing the site design has now given me a subject to write a post about. It's WIN all round today.
I have chosen this partly because it is a great song, partly because it is very much of its period, partly because I think I remember it from the time (the autumn of 1966, when I would have been six years old) and partly because it is time I got to grips with Manfred Mann. Rather like the Spencer Davis Group, perhaps following a jazz tradition, the band was named after its founder, but he was not its most celebrated member. At various times Manfred Mann included the vocalists Paul Jones and Mike d'Abo (singing here), and the musicians Tom ...
I've just spent another magnificent weekend foraging on Hampstead Heath. On Saturday morning I was in the capable hands of professional forager Miles Irving (see above) whose book "The Forager Handbook" is due out very soon. We found at least thirty edible plants including garlic mustard, alexanders, ground elder, plantain, lesser celendine, blackthorn, hawthorn, lime leaves, water mint, witch elm, burdock, dandelion, nettles, daisies, Jack-by-the-hedge and three cornered garlic. I've been eating our harvest all weekend (see photo below). I even persuaded my other half to come foraging on Hampstead Heath today. We returned well pleased with ourselves. Our haul ...
Sorry to see that the twittering magistrate in Shropshire has felt the need to resign after someone complained about his use of Twitter to send out messages about the legal system. For me, Steve Molyneux hasn't done anything wrong - he didn't Twitter whilst sitting in court hearing a case and the only information he gave out was in the public domain. But he was doing something right - helping demystify our legal system and bring the public and the system a little bit closer together. We need more of that, not less. Good can yet come of this - ...
Dear Mr Darling, I am writing to tell you how disappointed I am with the Budget you announced on April 22nd. People in this country are really suffering. The unemployment figure has already reached 2.1million, and by the end of the year 1 in 10 people could be out of work. More and more people are defaulting on their mortgage repayments, and families are therefore facing the prospect of homelessness and of having their homes repossessed. Yet your Budget contains no real measures to help people. You are continuing the wasteful V.A.T cut, which hasn't kick started spending in the ...
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A LibDem prospective parliamentary candidate defects to the Conservatives in London. However, Chris Huhne's position in what was once seen as a very marginal seat has been strengthened by his prospective Labour opponent in Eastleigh resigning the party and deciding to vote for Chris instead. He says: "Time and again, I have found myself thinking that Chris Huhne is right on issues as varied as Trident, climate change, the economy and civil liberties whilst the government is wrong on them."
Political Betting has a blog post that links to another source that suggests Brown is to have a reshuffle on June the 12th and move Jacqui Smith do Education and move Ed Balls to the job of home Secretary and I think I can sum up my opinion to this whole rumour by saying 'Good'! Jacqui Smith has been using the tax payer to fund her husbands dirty hobbies and personally I think its dirty politics like this that destroys the image of the whole of politics. Balls isn't all he is scratched up to be but Brown needs to ...
I was given a copy of the literature from all parties in recent Wanstead By-election. One of the Conservative's leaflets had a map of the ward with arrows pointing at the streets where they have done some work.There was one point that concerned me. It read:"CCTV camera installed by TfL after attack and campaign by councillors."The way it reads is the attack was carried out by the councillors.
I'm continually astounded about how few organisations really care about communicating with their staff. When communications campaigns are put up for marketing awards it's almost as if internal communications doesn't exist as an objective for anyone. For most organisations their staff are potentially thousands of people (or in the case of the NHS over a million) who, every day, have the opportunity to market their organisation - not just to customers but to their friends, neighbours and acquaintances. Within major organisations there's usually a communications hierarchy where the press office is closest to the board, marketing is somewhere in the ...
The Liberal Democrats have argued that the Government should increase personal allowances up to £10,000 and increase taxes on those earning over £100,000. The claim is that this would make the tax system more socially just. This argument is wrong; Labour's own policy is much better at promoting social justice. One (Kantian) account of social justice is Rawls' Difference Principle. The Difference Principle says that we should choose the option that would leave the worst-off better-off than under any of the other competing options. I would argue, firstly, that a market economy with some inequality in income actually leaves the ...
Daniel Clarke, Labour's Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Eastleigh, has resigned from the party and joined the Liberal Democrats. He cites "government policies which... are becoming increasingly indefensible" and says that "the likes of Damian McBride and Derek Draper have somehow been allowed to smear opponents and bring shame on the party" From Labourhome: I will leave the Labour Party and I am joining the Liberal Democrats. At the next election I will back Chris Huhne. Eastleigh is a two horse race, between Chris who has a proven record as a progressive politician and a hard worker for Eastleigh or Maria ...
Recently Texas Governor Rick Perry was raising the possibility of the secssion of his state from the USA.How endearing it is, therefore, that, only a mere two weeks later, Perry has found a good use for the USA. He wants federal help with the Swine Flu pandemic in his state.
Bath Fringe 2009 on Kensington Meadows This year the Bath Fringe are planning a 3 day event over the weekend of 5th - 7th June. Friday Evening Cabaret Bar till 10.30/event finish 11pm; Saturday Daytime Boom Stage 12 - 7pm Sat eve Comedy show 8 - 10.30/event finish 11pm; Sunday Walcot Community event 12noon - 7pm. These events are subject to the following Licence Application being granted: - They have made an application for a 'premises licence' for Kensington Meadows (this is similar to an old-style 'Entertainment Licence', for anyone unfamiliar with the changes to the licensing system). This has ...
In 2005 David Cameron announced "I am the heir to Blair". Then later, I think, he realised this was not a good thing to be and all talk of the Blair legacy project was abandoned.It seems strange, then, that the Tories now seem to be once again flirting with the idea of being the "heirs to Blair", as evidenced by Dr Strangelove's Michael Gove's interview in the Guardian yesterday when he said: "We
Sun 26th
18:49
Any one seen the Conseravtaive Candidate In Irwell Riverside? no thats funny neither have we,
Are the Tories bothering in Irwell Riverside or is it to far past Worsley Courthouse? well time will tell. Come to think have New Labour given up the ghost.In three days we have had so much feedback about New Labour and it's all bad well things could be looking up for us. [...]
Dan Clarke writes on Labourhome: It is with great sadness that I have decided to resign as a Labour PPC and a Labour Party member. My period as a PPC has been difficult to say the least and I have spent much of it wrestling with internal problems in my CLP and attempting to defend government policies which, in my eyes, are becoming increasingly indefensible ...Unfortunately, I no longer believe the Labour Party is committed to realising the dreams of people like me. The Labour Party's actions and policies today seem to be aimed more towards gaining petty advantages over ...
Labour Home has this story. Chris Huhne's Labour opponent in Eastleigh, Dan Clarke says; "I have been interested in politics since school and in my late teens I came to the conclusion that I wanted to use my political involvement, not for self-advancement, but to promote the causes I believe passionately in. I want to see greater social justice, more care taken over the environment and greater equality of opportunity." He joined the Labour Party because he believed that it had the 'right intentions' on these issues but now feels that they are best championed by the Liberal Democrats and ...
We've been up in the North East this weekend, speaking at a dinner in Berwick-upon-Tweed, attending the Regional Conference in Gateshead, and campaigning in our key seat of Newcastle North. Its funny how life makes connects which weave a thread through the years. My dad was once stationed at RAF Boulmer which is in Alan Beith's constituency and I went to my first school at nearby Longhoughton. As a pupil at Whitby Grammar school I was taught history by Mr Shipley, the father of our Leader on Newcastle City Council who I saw yesterday at the Conference. As a new ...
Triples all round!
The Independent on Sunday has the story:David Cameron accepted an all-expenses paid trip to apartheid South Africa while Nelson Mandela was still in prison, an updated biography of the Tory leader reveals today.The trip by Mr Cameron in 1989, when he was a rising star of the Conservative Research Department, was a chance for him to "see for himself" and was funded by a firm that lobbied against
There appear to be two schools of thought regarding Neil Gaiman among comics critics. One, popular ten years or so ago, is that he's the greatest writer ever to have worked in the medium, and brings a new level of literacy and intelligence to the medium that no-one else can match up to. The other, [...]
Royal Marsden Joint Scrutiny Committee The Royal Marsden is based over two sites; one in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and the other in the London Borough of Sutton. Because of this a joint committee is formed with representatives from both boroughs to scrutinise the Annual Review of this NHS Foundation Trust Hospital dedicated [...]
Several blogging responses have been forthcoming to the piece on Liberal Democrat Voice arguing that the prospect of a hung parliament could bolster our election campaign. The first thing to say is that the preconception that it does provide us with any electoral boost is a complete and utter myth; while it does provide us with a glimmer of hope of wielding actual power it also reminds people of our status as a third party. Frankly, it looks a little desperate on our part and is not really the kind of question that lends itself to a wider perception of ...
You can fight for us. You can die for us. You just can't live here. Says Labour.
It is always interesting to hear the views of others. That way we can form ideas, debate topics and discuss options for the future. On Thursday night I popped up to Clifton to hear Will Hutton speaking on the global economy. I was one of 900 in the audience. I enjoyed the talk despite the fact their sound system was a bit flakey -then during a recession we can't have it all. Anyway, I digress. There were some interesting thoughts on how we got to the position we are in and how to get out of it. Two things I ...
Today's Observer suggests that it has finally dawned on Gordon Brown that he may not get his proposed changes to MPs' second homes allowances through the House of Commons. They say that Ministers are now frantically seeking a compromise deal. One cabinet aide said the government faced a "humiliating defeat" if it put the measures to a free vote, adding: "Even our lot won't have it." The Prime Minister's problem appears to be that he does not understand the nature of consensus, when to lead and when to seek agreement. In this instance it was essential that he hammered out ...
Why am I left with the feeling that football, politics and to some degree the ongoing problems with the economy pale in to insignificange today compared with the potential flu pandemic. We face the perfect storm or an economy in a mess and a potential pandemic flu. At present companies cannot afford to let people stay at home to look after children who may be at home if schools close, this means more companies going belly up or even greater government borrowing to tide the economy over. Meanwhile restaurants will close, pubs will stay empty, nobody will be spending any ...
Today saw another fantastic win for Jenson Button, making it 3 out of 4 Grands Prix so far this season, in Bahrain. The Brawn team had done their best to play down expectations, saying that they were well off the pace and they had severe cooling issues with their engine. This had me sitting on the edge of my seat, barely able to breathe, worrying right to the end that the engine was going to blow up. Thankfully it didn't. We saw Ross Brawn work in this kind of blissful harmony with Michael Schumacher for so many years and we're ...
As members of their Lordships House, we're not allowed to debate the Budget - a certain Mr Lloyd George took care of that - but of course we take a keen interest in it. Our own tax announcement on Monday morning has gone down well. Taking the lowest paid out of tax altogether by raising the threshold not only helps the poorest working people directly, but puts £700 per year into the pockets of every income tax payer which can only be welcomed. Darling's budget was clearly aimed at stemming the hemorrhaging Labour support. A 50% tax rate for the ...
The Liberal Democrats have slammed the Government decision on Gurkha settlement rights is as another huge betrayal of the Gurkhas who have served our country.
First there was the UK Libertarian party, then the Jury Team and now the Social Liberalist party. Actually, the Social Liberalist party might have started before the Jury Team but they have only just come on to my radar. Something is afoot. While people might be turned off by voting for the main political parties, it seems people still want to engage and do something. And two of the above are part of the liberal family. The Social Liberalist are very interesting. They appear to be made up of a lot of young people, they are organised via the web ...
Having resisted the tempation to Twitter for some time, I finally gave in a few weeks ago. I subscribed to around a hundred people, and have just over fifty subscribing to me. Here's what I've found It's handy to pick up information, or be pointed towards fun sites on occasion. Not, to be fair, to the extent that I'd really miss it if it vanished tomorrow. I might have come across a few bits of news an hour or two earlier than I'd otherwise have managed, or seen the odd video or website I'd otherwise have missed, but that's about ...
At the end of the worst Budget week in decades, two especially grim images remain stuck in my mind. The first is the newspaper charts, courtesy of the indispensable IFS, showing that the public finances will be in a deep hole for the best part of a decade and that we face "two parliaments of pain" before public debt is brought back under control. The politics of the next decade will be defined by very tough choices on spending and taxes. The other is the tv clips of Britain in the 1970s, the last time an embattled Labour government faced ...
Readers may recall that there are a couple of vacancies on the Parish Council. Naturally, in a vibrant democracy, it is better by far to fill them with individuals with a democratic mandate. And so, the process of advertising the vacancies has begun, with the placing of a notice of vacancy (alright, two notices of vacancy) by Mid Suffolk District Council. Anyone on the electoral roll may petition for an election to be called in order to fill the vacancies but, if nobody does, the Parish Council may choose to do so by co-option. In truth, very few parishes in ...
Sun 26th
14:30
Jo Swinson writes... Experiences of a Female MP: Overcoming the Ultimate Old Boys Club
On 8th April, 2009, Jo Swinson MP delievered the Elizabeth Wallace Memorial Lecture at Glasgow University, hosted by the Glasgow Association of University Women. It was entitled 'Experiences of a Female MP: Overcoming the Ultimate Old Boys Club', and Jo has kindly agreed for it to be published on Liberal Democrat Voice. Let me take you on a tour of Parliament A couple of months after I was elected, I went on the official tour of the Houses of Parliament, as I figured I really ought to know a bit more about the institution I had been elected to serve ...
So - the long, long, long awaited Equalities Bill has arrived. As usual, media first - Parliament second. Published last Friday but embargoed until Monday - presumably so other parties can't get hands on it to comment. I thought Harriet Harman was better than that - but given her office has refused to brief me or meet with me - should have known. The man who wrote the book on equalities - Lord Lester - will be leading on the Bill in the Lords for the Liberal Democrats - but in the Commons, that job falls to me. I notice ...
I have laid down a challenge to myself: is it possible to construct a counter-narrative to the current thinking on the financial crisis. Why do this? Well because when something becomes accepted wisdom it always troubles me. I do not claim that this analysis is correct. This is more an exercise to see if one can articulate a view that makes us look at the problem in another way. There were several forces at work that led to our current state: sub-prime lending, low interest rates, securitisation of debt and the use of the derivatives market. One could blame all ...
Part of my role as a public affairs professional is to make sure I understand what drives political and economic cycles. And that means understanding the contemporary narrative. For the economy, a clear consensus has established itself and produced the following narrative: light regulation, laissez-faire capitalism and greed are dead. They are dead because they caused the financial crisis that led to the recession. This view was consistently articulated by those who had worked on Wall Street in last week's Dispatches, 'Crash - how the Banks went bust' presented by Will Hutton. Famously, G.K. Galbraith warned against believing conventional wisdom. ...
Last night I attended - along with a very large audience that filled a lecture theatre at the Dalhousie Building at the University of Dundee (see below - and there were two overflow lecture theatres) - a superb public lecture by Charlie Cook on "The New US Presidency - 100 Days after inauguration." Charlie Cook is the American political analyst who specialises in election forecasts and political trends and whop founded the acclaimed 'The Cook Political Report' newsletter (click on headline above to view his website). He gave a highly informative and entertaining address, followed by a lively question and ...
A Labour party minister has betted to win money via Labour losing the next general election but has asked to remain anonymous according to a report by a Sunday Paper. To read more head over to Iain Dale's blog post that will give you more information the report. First of all I am amazed to see that a Labour minister has what it takes to bet against his party and the government he serves in. He must really have faith in the Prime Minister. Until I realised that it was a government minister I thought that it might have been ...
Not being a product of modern education I ought to do a better job of checking my typing for errors.
It's another beautiful Sunday, can't bring myself to write about politics. Have this instead:
South Gloucestershire Voluntary Sector Forum has organised a "Voluntary Voices" event for all members of voluntary and community groups in South Gloucestershire - volunteers, staff and trustees. The event will take place at 2.00pm - 4.00pm this Monday, 27 April, in the Greenfield Centre, Winterbourne, BS36 1NJ. They will be discussing the South Gloucestershire Safer & Stronger Communities Partnership Strategy Consultation April - July 2009 and there will be an update on the Local Area Agreement, covering the results of the Third Sector survey and planning the next steps in "Participation in Regular Volunteering". Please contact Gillian Graham on 01454 ...
Like leopards Tories don't change their spots. Cameron is whipping up a campaign against some of the rewards paid to top 'executives' in the public sector. Whilst one might be tempted to agree with him we should remember that, at least since Queen Margaret of Finchley (aka Thatcher) came to the throne, the Tories have been implacable in their hatred of the public sector. The attack is also a useful diversion away from the focus on financial services rewards.
This Government, and especially the increasingly awful Jaqui Smith, just cannot get anything right. The issue is not how to control the number of Ghurkas coming to live here. The vast majority don't want to, and given what New Labour (or more accurately fake Tory) has done to this country over the last 12yrs what 'foreigner' would want to come & live here unless they were a filthy rich tax avoider. The issue is one of principle, a word whose meaning is clearly beyond Ms Smith's comprehension. Ghurkas, all of them, have simply earned the right to come & live ...
Treasury Department Issues Emergency Recall Of All US Dollars
{IMG_1621} It seems our graffiti campaign has attracted some attention, including a wag suggesting that I may be responsible for the explosion of tags in the area! Nice try. Glenn and I continue to spot new tags appearing daily: keep up to date on the Campaign via our Facebook Group, and upload any tags you see to our Flickr site so we can make the authorities aware. I was fascinated by the response of the Labour Lead Councillor for the Environment, Cllr Paul Gittings in the press article on our campaign this week: "There is no let up in the battle and since the ...
The last week has flown by, and the hectic pace of meetings, travel and work in Parliament has meant that every time I thought I had time to update the blog, something came up and the opportunity passed by. It's only now, on the train returning to Suffolk from Newcastle, that I finally have a moment. Returning to Parliament after a recess, even one of only three weeks, means there is lot to catch up on, both in terms of meetings and paperwork. The Federal Finance and Administration Committee met on Tuesday with the usual agenda of management accounts, performance ...
Not many things persuade me to drive far on Saturdays but the Liberal Democrat North East Regional conference is one. This one was special because it is only 40 days to the European Parliament election in the UK. The biblical phrase resonated in the hall as the impact of having elected our first Lib Dem MEP for the region was discussed. The positive effect of having someone to speak up for the
Last night, Nick Clegg, Sarah Teather MP, Sarah Ludford MEP, a group of Brent LibDem Councillors and I were guests the Sri Swaminarayan Mandir in Neasden — according to the Guinness Book of Records, the largest Hindu temple outside India. It's certainly an impressive place. The main prayer hall seats over 2,000 people, though it is the [...]
This morning's Western Mail speculates that Eluned Morgan's chances of winning the Labour nomination to replace Rhodri Morgan as the Assembly Member for Cardiff West have been damaged by her involvement in the party's attack blog, Aneurin Glyndwr.Eluned wrote a parody of the Tom Jones hit Delilah whose accompanying video depicting Nick Bourne as Dracula and Ieuan Wyn Jones as a clown has been
The gap between the richest and poorest in society has widened since Labour came to power in 1997, according to a new study from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. By Nick Allen taken from the TelegraphLast Updated: 7:08PM GMT 24 Feb 2009 Health inequalities have also increased and poverty intensified for working-age people without children. Progress towards a [...]
.New Labour claim that they have made Pensioners 'Better Off'. The truth is very different .............. Labour, despite their claims and spin, have hit Pensioners very hard. Labour are trying to convince us that the small increases in pensions and the means-tested benefits have really made life better for pensioners. Sounds great doesn't it ! But [...]
The BBC report that an attempt by a Shropshire magistrate to bring some transparency and accountability to his role has led to his resignation. IT consultant Steve Molyneux, from Telford, Shropshire, posted messages on Twitter about cases at the town's magistrates' court. He said everything he reported had already been said in open court and he had done nothing illegal. However, following a complaint from an individual within the court system, Mr. Molyneux resigned: He later told BBC Radio Five Live that he accepted he had to be "careful of the language" he used, but did not accept he should ...
It's that time of year again. Lambs frolic in the fields, birds build their nests and Lib Dems wring their hands over the coalition question. Going into a General Election, should we rule it out completely, or with one party or the other, or perhaps maintain a dignified silence and not be drawn on the question at all. Writing on Lib Dem Voice, Andrew Lewin suggests that we should make clear up front that any coalition would be dependent on a bill for electoral and constitutional reform. Charlotte Gore takes a slightly different tack, suggesting we rule out coalition with ...
The SNP have picked a candidate to stand for them at the next general election who seems to support terrorism and extreme views. Osama Saeed a man who runs a lot of Islamically "labeled" projects has called an extreme Islam "labeled" Scholar a "eminent scholar" and personally I think its sickening. First of all Osama Saeed is destroying the image of Islam with his organisations that are labelled "Islam" but actually are far from the true Islam and are just views of an extreme cult which has no religion according to the verdict that has been drawn up by Sunni ...
Allan Duncan MP, the man that I put under so much scrutiny just a couple of weeks ago has threatened to kill a Miss California contestant as The Sun has reported and personally i think it is silly and damaging for the Conservatives. Allan Duncan was under pressure from a 17 year old image what pressure from Paxman would have been like for Allan? Does David Cameron support murder threatners in his cabinet if so then Allan Duncan should continue as the shadow leader of the house, if David Cameron doesn't then he should very quickly kick Allan Duncan out ...
Lord Taylor of Blackburn and another peer have been charged with cash for amendments of laws a scandal that came out earlier this year. This news has been brought to light by the Sunday Times who recently have been championing the way on bringing out the political sleaze and here is another prime example. The Peers are now to be suspended from the House of Lords for a year according to the report. Lets just focus on Lord Taylor for a second, he comes from the constituency of Blackburn which is strong with Labour support but wont be after opposition ...
On Wednesday the Labour Party confirmed that they have run out of ideas and have condemned us to years of unemployment and a decade of debt. Their pick-and-mix budget of recycled announcements will do nothing to get us out of this recession and nothing that will help the poorest who are being hit hardest by it. A Liberal Democrat budget would deliver practical help. It would take 4...
I spent some time yesterday evening trying to work out every MP who had represented me throughout my entire life. Because I have lived in quite a lot of places this was not straightforward. I did not know all my postcodes but with a bit of interwebbing I was able to track them all down and I then used a combination of "They Work For You" with its postcode finder facility and Wikipedia to track the former MPs for the constituencies to see who was MP whilst I lived there. It is also complicated by the fact that one of ...
The link is to all the practise directions and guidance relevant to the new rules.
Sun 26th
09:28Remember Remember what life was like under the Tories, people tend to have a short memory.
Revisiting the miners' strike THE GREAT MINERS' strike of 1984-85 was the most significant post-war industrial dispute, leaving an indelible mark on virtually every subsequent industrial and political development. The Tories later admitted that it cost nearly £6bn to win the dispute, which they saw as a political attempt to break the power of the National Union [...]
Yesterday a senior member of my party was discussing the comments i had received from BNP supporters, he made a profound comment or should i say a question. So could any of your supporters who read my blog Answer! What would the BNP do with the Gurkhas
Imagine how you would feel if you were lining up in Blackheath waiting to take part in the London Marathon. You'd have gone through months of painful training and would be wondering if it would all pay off and you'd manage the whole 26 miles. You'd be thinking of the cause you were running for and be a bit scared about letting your sponsors down. Although, to be honest, it would take a really evil sort of person to withdraw their sponsorship if you didn't finish. Just by getting there and putting in the months of work, you have already ...
I would like to ask any Student within the city who would like to debate the issues that effect you to call us. We can arrange it, so give us a call us lets make a night of it.If you would like to know what those pipe smoking liberal Democrats think this is your chance. [...]
Over three years ago we released our Local Manifesto.It was a concise and radical piece of work. I will be asking our executive if we could release this again on mass. In my opinion we are failing to offer the people of this city the chance to see the full range of our policy statements. Why? well finance we will [...]
Our local sixth forms are having their funding cut by £587,547, which is the equivalent to the funding for eighty-one pupils. This is part of the fallout from the blunder made by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), which has caused a national shortfall in post-16 education funding. The LSC's mistake was exposed earlier this month when schools and colleges were told their budgets would be slashed, despite having been told in March what their funding would be be for the next academic year. Not a good way of doing budgeting!
Those famous (to a Reading FC fan) words spoken by Gary Lineker in the first Match of the Day following Reading's promotion to the Premiership three seasons ago, could equally be applied to the guest speaker at yesterday's Northern Liberal Democrats Spring Conference in Gateshead.I'd never met, or even seen, our new Party President before, but Baroness Ros Scott came to Gateshead and opened
The scale of this treasure is so big that it's not hidden at all - it's right in front of us! Yep, it's a graveyard and regular readers will know my penchant But this is one of the finest London has to offer. It's Kensal Green cemetery and it contains some of the finest names of society. More details can be found here http://www.kensalgreen.co.uk/ I have uploaded a full rack of these pictures into my Facebook profile Ed Fordham - so join in there is you can. Otherwise I can recommend this as perfect bank holiday walking material... This ...
Around the country thousands upon thosuand of people, young and old, wil be celebrating our Patron Saint, St George. For many it will be the first of many, for others it will their latest of many.Scouts have always celebrated St Geogre's Day. Many with a service where they will reaffirm their promise and some with a march past afterwards.With all this hype in the newspaper around whether to
I have decided to write on the subject of the swine flu outbreak in Mexico and the scandalous waste of 48 hours by the World Health Organisation and governments worldwide in tackling this virus. The UK government, along with every other government worldwide (except Japan) has introduced no special measures for dealing with people arriving from Mexico despite the fact that the government's own Pandemic Flu procedures (based on Avian flu H5N1 mutating from the far east) say that travel restrictions and screenings of incoming flights should be introduced immediately to stop the spread of pandemic flu to this country. ...
Vince Cable is rightly stressing the tough decisions we need to make to face to financial storm. Some of his suggestions are easy to accept for LibDems. Scrapping ID cards for example. But there is at least one kite being flown that takes us beyond debated party policy. In his posting on an 'University for Berwick' Mark Valladares eloquently shows why the expanding University programme can have huge appeal and a positive economic and social impact. But Vince is saying we may have to abandon the goal of 50% of our young people getting University level education. That would surely ...
Breaking News: We're all going to die of Mexican Pig Flu. The British Media is assisting the public by keeping everyone calm with balanced headlines. Like mine.
Number of suspected deaths from swine flu in Mexico since 13th April: 81 Number of deaths from heart disease in Mexico since 13th April (estimate): 2,500 Number of suspected deaths from swine flu in the USA, which was the BBC news headline this morning: 0 Number of people who have died from bird flu worldwide over the last few years (bird flu was predicted by many experts to be a global pandemic that would kill millions): 243 Let's not panic. UPDATE: a variety of blogger opinion on this one from Norfolk Blogger, Susan Watts on Newsnight and The Lay Scientist. ...
These tulips were in full bloom in Waterlow park beside Lauderdale House last Saturday - but I'm sure they will still be on-the-go this weekend. Waterlow park is on the Camden side of Highgate hill, so strictly speaking, it's not in my patch. Sydney Waterlow built it as a "garden for the gardenless" in 1889, and it's one of the most beautiful parks I know.At the moment, it provides a 'tulip for the tulipless' as the squirrels have always got mine.
I've come across a banking practice of putting an additional interest charge on credit card accounts despite the customer having agreed to pay off the account in full at the end of each month.If anyon...
My latest local news video for constituents, this one is about the repair work to Hollinside medieval, fortified manor house which is on English Heritage's At Risk list.
Mayor's civic dinner last night. Sensible quantities of the falling juice. A good time had by all. # Order order orders!!! # Spreadsheet of Mayor Making invites ... done. Of course in two days I'll realise I've left someone important like my brother out. # Just said to ferdi I would like to watch the budget. He said: [...] Warning: include(/home/beacroft/public_html/wp-content/themes/aeros/) [function.include]: failed to open stream: No such device in on line 300 Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening '/home/beacroft/public_html/wp-content/themes/aeros/' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in on line 300 Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
A Salford man has been found hanged in his flat after he emailed a suicide note to Government lawyers who sent him a £3,000 legal bill. Neil Hill, 56, wrote the message two days after losing a court bid to halt a rent rise imposed on council tenants. His case against Salford-based housing association City West Housing Trust and Hazel Blears, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, was thrown out on a technicality involving his paperwork. The Treasury Solicitor's Department, acting on behalf of Ms Blears, then notified Mr Hill of its intention to recover awarded costs from ...
A gaggle of sites are blogging the new You Gov poll. On the surface there is nothing spectacular to say; the Tories lead is steady at 18%. However, the figures of real interest to me are the broad levels of support that are shown for the policies outlined in the Budget; 64% said they supported the 50p band increase in income tax, 82% the rise in tobacco duty and 66% the increase in beer. This confirms to me the feeling that Cameron's attempt to roll them all into one and claim it is a giant tax hike for all will ...
