I caught the Lib Dem election broadcast on TV earlier on this evening. I thought it was pretty good overall - Nick Clegg came across well as someone who tries to listen to the concerns and issues people have, and the film concluded with a simple focus on the party's tax message. So, why the mixed feelings? Well, none of the issues mentioned by Nick - Iraq, civil liberties, tax - have much to do with either Europe or the English county council elections, supposedly the levels of government which are the focus of the coming elections. Let's not forget ...
In any normal year, these three women would be up for prizes in Channel 4's Political Campaign Awards. In this remarkable week, all three of them have dominated the media and political spotlight. Joanna Lumley has led the campaign for Gurkha's rights and totally embarrassed the Government Heather Brooke, the Taxpayers Alliance campaigner who has fought a long battle to get the parliamentary authorities to publish MPs expenses has finally seen her work come to fruition with the expense claims published in the Telegraph Beckie Williams has led the successful campaign to get M&S to drop the excess costs of ...
Everyone has a comfort zone that they do not like to get out of, I am no different. I have noticed myself to be too stuck in my ways, not trying anything new or exploring the boundaries of my creative abilities. There are many things that I have not done before, things that I just never have gotten round to. Something akin to the "100 things to do before I die" kind of list. During the past few months the BBC has been running a radio (and now TV) show called "I've Never Seen Star Wars". The premise behind this ...
{spartacus.jpg} The trialling of ID cards has started in Manchester to much opposition. Choosing Manchester to trail anything that costs £30 -60 only months after we rejected the congestion charge is frankly stupid, but my concerns are all ethical and principled. They divert funds away from policing towards bureaucracy. It is an invasion and turning point in eroding our civil liberties. We have been rapidly moving towards a police state since 2001. The people of Britain have not surrendered to global terrorism, but our government has. The government has an obsession with holding data on innocent people. No 2 ID ...
I have just spent the evening at the theatre, watching the odd site of Trigger from "Only Fools and Horses" treading the boards as Sartorious in "Widowers Houses" by George Bernard Shaw. Obviously it wasn't actually Trigger, but Roger Lloyd-Pack, the man who played him for twenty-odd years. Despite his putting on a fine turn in this role, I half expected him to cast a far-off glance into the distance and start talking about his evenings down the Nag's Head with Dave and Rodney at any moment. I find trips to the threatre very enjoyable. I don't know much about ...
Nominations have now closed for the elections for the European Parliament on 4 June 2009. This is the full statement of persons nominated. Liberal Democrat list is headed up by our existing Member of the European Parliament Chris Davies MEP. Chris is a great friend to our area and has been to Prestwich on many occasions. Here's his campaign website. Meanwhile Prestwich residents are being encouraged by Bury Council to "vote early" or vote by post" with the following message: Prestwich residents are being encouraged to vote early, or use a postal vote, in the forthcoming European elections. The poll ...
I've been celebrating this week: I've just turned 4 - in MP years, of course! This called for cake with friends and my wonderful staff. (Thank you, one and all.) We remembered my four very eventful years so far, as Liberal Democrat MP for Hornsey and Wood Green - here's looking forward to the next five! {Happy birthday to us!} (Pictured with Crouch End councillor Ron Aitken)
Councillor Gerry McMullan and I ventured out onto Blair Mains Farm at Culross to get a taste of the soon to be famous ice cream made by the Nelson's from milk produced by their own cows.After only two years on the go the business - and its tasty ice cream - is already making a mark in the local area.www.nelsonsofculrossicecream.com
Sitting on the train to Newcastle, I've just had a look at my list of things to do this weekend. Tomorrow morning is the hustings meeting for the Blaydon selection. I've been canvassed by two of the candidates, missed a third who called when I was out, missed a 4th who phoned when I was out and have heard nothing from the fifth. Tomorrow morning we shall know. One of the two candidates who called
Does anyone get those David Cameron emails? I do! And I was quietly amused by the one that arrived tonight.It talks about the local elections and taking the local election message to various named places, including Newcastle. Alas, this reference to my Tyneside neighbours overlooks the fact that there are no local elections in Newcastle this year!There are also no Conservative councillors in
Don't worry, I haven't died of swine flu - been busy with all sorts of things over the last few weeks which didn't leave much time for blogging. But I've been prompted to get back into the swing of things by a couple of articles on Lib Dem Voice in the past couple of days. First of all, Stephen Tall had a discussion about what the Lib Dems need to do to become the official opposition in place of Labour. And then today Steve Pitt followed that up with this piece about what the Lib Dems stand for. I do ...
The Liberal Democrats candidate in the Huntspill Joe Leach now has the Labour party candidate backing him against the Conservatives. The Labour party has pulled out their candidate and have put their support behind the Lib Dem as they believe the Tories need to be beat and Joe is the favourite to do that. When I set up Bebo's largest Lib Dem supporting group I added Joe Leach to the moderators because of the fact that he was a Councillor and was among the only well known Lib Dems in the group. Since then I have become a pal of ...
I am going to start podcasting daily but if not daily then definitely regularly about the business of the day. The sound of the current podcast that I have uploaded is a little bad in sound quality but I will try and improve the sound for next time so do stay tuned. Like Iain Dale I am someone who has always wanted to be in the radio business so I am going to podcast in hope that readers enjoy it . So here goes please give me some advice as with advice I can only get better.
From the BBC News Norfolk page: A football club may have to vacate its home ground in Norfolk because of a clause in the lease linking ownership to a king of Norway who died in 1991.Cromer Town FC were given the lease in 1922 by Evelyn Bond-Cabbell.But the gift of Cabbell Park included a clause that the lease would expire 21 years after the death of Queen Victoria's last surviving grandchild.Norway's King Olav V, the monarch's great grandson, died on 17 January 1991 meaning the club face eviction in 2012.First a moan about journalistic standards at the BBC. If the ...
See, the most upsetting thing about the MP's expenses for me is that I wasn't there to take advantage. Here's a bunch of people with no regard to cost - simply name the price and voila, bonus profit. Why charge £1.99 for a hammer when your MP's willing to stick one on expenses for £9.99? Why charge £300 for a TV when they're willing to cough up £800? Of course, sadly, it would be completely immoral and disgusting to help myself to taxpayer's money in such a manner, so perhaps it's for the best that I was never tempted by ...
Thanks to all those who came along to last night's local assembly at Lee Manor School. Another good turn out - perhaps slightly down on last time, but still 80 or 90 people in the room, I'd guess. For those of you who didn't make it, the key announcements and decisions were: We agreed to allocated £20,000 towards improvements in Manor Park. The assembly coordinating group presented the assembly with a 'shopping list' of items which we'd like to follow up, and the assembly agreed to a £20,000 budget. The coordinating group will now negotiate with council staff and report ...
My House Points column from today' Liberal Democrat News. There is nothing funny about the state of the economy. Recession reaction A few days ago Polly Toynbee warned of "hard Thatcherite ... austerity and cuts" if the Tories win the next general election. She was missing an important point: we are in for austerity and cuts whoever wins the next election. Alistair Darling did his best to disguise this in the budget and waffled about "efficiency savings" in interviews afterwards. The Conservatives are avoiding policy commitments altogether. Two politicians have had the courage to tell the truth. Frank Field and ...
Stephen has started off an excellent meme, so I'll just join in. The Lib Dems agreed with me on gay rights. Specifically, at the time, the age of consent. A friend of mine ran the DELGA website at the time. The Lib Dems also agreed with me on student finance, which was important when I was going to university, and still is now generations of students are graduating with massive debt in an uncertain world. The Lib Dems also agreed with me on Europe. Like or not, that's the continent we all live in, and it makes sense to work ...
So Voters of Britain if you need some more vote Tory it does what it says on the tin. The only good thing that came from Thatchers time in power was a program about out of work builders..
Welcome to the first of what we intend to be the first in a series of LDV Friday memes to amuse you at the end of the week, and for Lib Dem bloggers (should they so choose) to pick up and run with over the weekend. I'm starting with a simple one: the top seven reasons I joined the Lib Dems: I was a Labour party member for five years (1994-99). Then I realised Labour was interested only in being in power, not in giving power away. I would far rather be in a party whose 'extreme wings' are - ...
{mc-expenses-article-courier} In view of the continuing controversy of MPs expenses and in particular the so-called "second homes allowance", I have posted this article that appeared in the Courier and Advertiser on Friday April 10th 2009 explaining my own personal circumstances. You can read the article here.
As I've said before, by far the majority of people I've come across of all shades of the political spectrum have been decent, well intentioned human beings. There are a few who don't live up to that, but isn't that the same in any organisation? Most MPs that I know work incredibly hard, long hours both in Westminster and their constituencies and are committed to serving the people they represent. It's worrying in some ways that the information which was going to be published in July about MP's expenses has been obtained ahead of time by the Daily Telegraph. As ...
{Transition Shipston} All, More publicity for non political things - Transition Shipston now have a facebook group. Members of facebook can see it here, and all are welcome to join. It's a bit empty at the moment, but more information will be there soon. Regards, Philip
Some work today was completed in record time and to a very high standard. Credit where Credits due, I have spoken to some of the residents less than ten minutes ago, and they all say thanks. Well done urban vision,
I haven't, until now, commented much on MPs expenses but as it is clearly not going away I thought I would add my view to the mix.
Fri 8th
17:48
I would just like to inform readers of this site that there is little crime in Irwell Riverside.
Perhaps New Labour should tell our candidates wife, or her insurance company. It's sad that this should happen so often in this city. And the people who cannot afford it suffer the most.This mindless vandalism ended up with nothing but misery for a young women on her own,
Have a look at the latest Lib Dem broadcast.. Nick Clegg gets out of the Westminster Bubble and talks with real people about the issues that matter to them: LibDig This!
The first reports of the weird and wonderful expense claims made by members of the Cabinet have proved that restraint isn't always easy to find. I'm not going to get carried away at this stage, as there is much still to be revealed. And, until it becomes clear that Liberal Democrat MPs are without sin (if it ever does), it would be foolish to come over all self-righteous. Anyone rushing to tar one party or another will doubtless look very silly if a cohort of their own side are then found to be equally guilty/venal/stupid (delete as appropriate). There is ...
What ho, Readers. One seems not to be able to post comments on Lord Eric Avebury's blog unless one is a "team member" (of what team, one is unsure) so one figures one will post a comment on one's blog instead. For clarity, the blog post that drew my wandering Friday afternoon attention goes as follows: This letter from the DH Minister Dawn Primarolo MP says that the cost of alcohol harm to the NHS in England alone rose from £.3-£1.7 billion in 2001-02, the year to which the Cabinet Office's Interim Analytical Analysis of Alcohol Harm 2003 related, to ...
2-jags apparently claimed twice in two years for fixing a WC in his private house. Perhaps the reason he has had so many loo problems is that he's been shoving so much food - £400 a month on food expenses - down his greedy gob. I always thought he was full of cr*p. Harriet Harman says the House of Commons authorities check that the expenses of MPS are within the rules. Well, clearly the rules need changing! "I have only ever had 1 small flat at any one time in London" says Hazel Blears, swiftly ignoring the facts that the ...
A sneak preview of Nick Clegg's latest party political broadcast for the Liberal Democrats
I am in a very grumpy mood today. My ears hurt. I feel completely wabbit. I really needed something to make me laugh. Then I logged onto Twitter and nearly fell of my chair when I saw this tweet from my mate Stephen and nearly fell off my chair. I was right across the railway and barking in sunshine 13 minutes ago from txt stephenpglenn Clearly having a canine moment that he wanted to share with us:-) LibDig This!
Rejoice fellow citizens of the bay, as Kevin 'Tito' Carroll the self-styled 'street fighter' of the Tory group returns to lead that group. Luckier still are we that he retains his 30K a year post as Deputy Mayor too. With all the hoped for sell-off of council assets desired by the Tories we are most fortunate to have a former estate agent as an elected executive Tory Mayor, now ably assisted by a builder / freemason as his Deputy ! Less than a year ago when 'Tito' was on holiday (former Yugoslavia perhaps) the Tory group unceremoniously dumped him, leading ...
I'm not a fan of party political broadcasts. They're pretty much uniformly dull. The Liberal Democrat ones are dull on a low budget, Labour and the Tories throw much more money at theirs but successfully hold onto the tedium. So when I say that the latest Lib Dem PPB has exceeded my expectations, it's worth noting that I really wasn't expecting very much. It doesn't try to be clever with whizzy graphics (unfortunately, when you've a low budget, it always seems to end up looking rather too much like a seven-year-old's been let loose in the video-editing suite and got ...
{sugababes1.jpg} Unison are hosting a rally against the BNP in Albert Square on Friday 15th May in Albert Square. There is real concern amongst politicians that a BNP MEP may get elected in the North West this year and I know this event will be attended by both Labour & LibDem Councillors unified in a common cause. If you can find time to get down that would be great. That weekend is also a focus of activity against a BNP resurgence. The NUS are organising an event on Saturday. I will post the details soon, but I asked them to ...
The other day, I re-watched one of my favourite childhood films. I was reminded of it by this tweet from Labour blogger Sadie Smith. Fortunately, Sadie is, of course, completely and utterly wrong. It's wonderful – probably still the best war film I've ever seen, and I've seen most of them. It doesn't have the scale of [...]
The Lib Dems' new party political broadcast shows Nick Clegg's conversations with voters.
Just thought I'd blog about a gift I recently bought for a friend's child, so if they become really popular I can boast about being ahead of the curve! I seem to have been going into out local "Childrens' boutique" Boutini a lot recently as many friends seem to be sprogging off all at the same time. However, just the other day, I bought a monkey with a pullstring that plays "Let it be". It just really appealled to us. We actually saw it on a previous visit but had no occasion to buy it. Now Mrs. L is going ...
And speaking of health, its always nice to get a letter saying that there is no sign of a recurrence of a lung tumour (see earliest posts on this blog for the operation) and that the aortic aneurysm isn't getting any larger.
Portsmouth is happy, Plymouth disconsolate, Rosyth on tenterhooks (according to the estimable Caron) over whether 'the new carriers' will be built. Lots of reactions to defence spending decisions in areas where LibDems have a strong electoral interest. Just to be a bit contrary though, should the priority really be on spending that generates civilian jobs? The point of a military, if we have one, is to deploy people in dangerous situations with the best equipment we can find for the jobs we give them. So defence procurement should be aligned to getting the best equipment at an affordable cost. The ...
This letter from the DH Minister Dawn Primarolo MP says that the cost of alcohol harm to the NHS in England alone rose from £.3-£1.7 billion in 2001-02, the year to which the Cabinet Office's Interim Analytical Analysis of Alcohol Harm 2003 related, to £2.7 billion in 2007-08, and that now 2.9 billion bed-days are occupied in NHS hospitals by people who are there because of alcohol. One would think that the Treasury and the DH would be getting together to see how further increases in the taxation of alcohol could be used to discourage consumption, but apparently there are ...
Yesterday the candidate list for the Buckinghamshire County Council Elections 2009 (4th of June) was closed with the following entrees for Wendover & Halton: Peeler Christopher Henry Liberal DemocratClayton Marion Patricia The Conservative Party CandidateLesingham William John UK Independence PartyPile Robert Leroy Cuthbert The Labour Party Candidate I have no Idea who the UKIP and Labour candidates are. I'll be happy if someone enlightened me as to their contribution to our village life. Mr. Pile stood four years ago and pulled 458 votes. So are we back to square one? Same candidates, same results? Four years ago Chris would have ...
Several places have blogged the story in the Daily Telegraph and rightly feel in my eyes that this is the start of something akin to a witch hunting atmosphere is gathering, something Charlotte Gore characterises as the prelude to an 'us v them' atmosphere. No doubt this explains the not so strange silence of Nick Clegg and David Cameron, noted by Guido Fawkes. When questioned on Newsnight recently about whether Clegg would impose rules on Lib Dem MPs specifically he slithered and squirmed to the point of it being very embarrassing to watch. We can't doubt that the main beneficiaries ...
If I can get through the traffic tomorrow, I will be holding an advice session at Belle Vue House, 11 - 12 which apparently is the new name for the building which has been known for 20 years as the Gorton North Neighbourhood Office. The new name is apparently a sign of change, even though it is neither a house or in Belle Vue. All welcome to attend.
There doesn't seem to be much good news. It does look like the disruption is going to go on to the weekend, but there is real hope that at least one lane will be open by the evening rush hour. I was told that the buses have been diverted via Reddish Lane or Ashton New Road, though I hope that the latter is a misprint for Ashton Old Road, otherwise it's so far away as to not be covered by the description of "Gorton" at all! A further update has now arrived. Outbound traffic will be diverted via Whitwell Way, ...
Next time the SNP tell me that a good vote for this is a vote for Independence I'm going to point out that they'll be needing to ride at about 75% in the opinion polls to have that sort of success. Why? Currently the SNP are sitting in the mid 30s in percentage terms in recent Scottish polls. But in today's Times to mark 10 years of devolution a Populus poll says that while 41% what more powers short of independence only 21% want Independence therefore at present one in three of the number who support* the SNP do not ...
You have probably read about the campaign against Marks and Spencer's policy of charging £2 more for bra's that are sized larger than double 'D' - which the Sun helpfully labeled the 'Hands of our boobs' campaign'. Well the campaign has won. Today, M&S have taken out adverts in many of the national newspapers saying: "We've heard what our customers are telling us - that they are unhappy with the pricing on our DD-plus bras and that basically we've boobed. So from Saturday May 9 no matter what size you buy, the price is going to be the same. We're ...
According to my well informed sources, the Liberal Democrats are referred to as "The Toilet Party" at Eden District Council. This is because they are constantly in the front line when it comes to resisting the closure of local toilets. Lavatories, Toilets or Loos, call them what you will, they are a very basic and universal need. We live in a technological age which is bringing into question all kinds of services that were once accepted as necessary. Post offices and telephone boxes for example.Council officers find toilets a distraction They sometimes believe that theyhave much more important and pressing ...
Not surprisingly, the BBC is going big on the cabinet's expenses revelations published in today's Telegraph. 5 Live's Chief Political Correspondent John Pienaar was coming over all high and mighty about the subject. But isn't this the same John Pienaar who, when at Lib Dem Spring Conference in Liverpool last year, was offered a space in a free courtesy bus that was just departing to make the trip between the conference hotel and the auditorium in favour of hailing a cab and, no doubt, charging the exense to us, the license fee payers? Imagine if the press had seen a ...
Toilet brush holder £9.99 from Homebase, bought by a fastidious male member of the LibDems;Corby Trouser Press, in mahogany.£119.00, bought from John Lewis by one of the wealthier LibDem MPsPotato peeler, £4.50, claimed by a member of the Tory front bench.Yucca plant:£9.99 from Homebase, bought by a home-loving LibDem member for his constituency home.
Last night saw Sefton council's annual meeting.Rumours have swirled around for some days that the Tory group meeting was less than happy. Readers should be aware that whatever improvement there has been in Tory fortunes elsewhere in Sefton they have lost seats to us in each of the last three years-and there has been one defection to Labour. Mrs Parry now leads the smallest ever Tory group on Sefton. In addition her vindictive behavior to the most successful Tory ward in Southport (Dukes) means that even within that small group there are some members have been forced to be semi ...
One Tory grandee charged £98.63 for a service on his swimming pool boiler at his country home.
A LibDem frontbencher charged for the cost of a handyman to replace a rope on his swinging chair, at a cost of £77, together with several other small jobs.
Until 31st July, South Gloucestershire Council and NHS South Gloucestershire are carrying out a consultation on local health and social care needs. They are very keen to get the views of those who can get a "raw deal" from these services and will be holding meet-and-greet events to get the views of everyone involved, including children and young people, older people and people with disabilities. There will be two events in Yate Shopping Centre where you can have your say: Meet and Greet - 10am-2pm on Saturday 16 May - a chance to meet the people involved in this consultation ...
A Tory grandee MP claimed on expenses for a mole catcher at his country home - at £35 a quarter.
Readers of this blog may have seen the works by Thames Water to replace the old Victorian water mains in the Oval and Vauxhall area. Everyone appreciates how important the works are to stop old pipes from leaking precious water but we have asked the council and Thames Water to ensure that when the pavements are replaced, the markings are then removed. The problem is that if left alone they attract more graffiti (we have one example on Meadow Road, SW8 that we have reported to the council).
A female LibDem MP claimed £2.50 in expenses for a Boots eyeliner in 2005.
Yes, you did read that right. Tory MP Nadine Dorries actually said on Question Time (and I replayed it several times to make sure, because I thought my dodgy ears couldn't possibly be right) that Trident, which her Party has vowed to replace in the unfortunate event of them ever returning to office, is not a weapon of mass destruction. It's a pity she couldn't have looked up her leader's plans for a more important item of defence spending - the aircraft carriers which are due to be built at Rosyth dockyard if this Government ever stops delaying the project. ...
{courtney-pine.jpg} I am a little late plugging the Chorlton Arts festival, which starts next Thursday. Please check out the website for more information. It is an excellent website and highlights all the events. I will post some of the events I am looking forward to after the weekend. The Festival is running between 14th May and the 23rd. There are always a number of free events and most artistic palettes are catered for.
Local residents, supported by local Councillors, have persuaded the Council not to grant the FIRE nightclub at Vauxhall Cross permission to have extra capacity by expanding into adjacent arches. The club at the moment can hold 1,435 people and FIRE wanted to increase this by 25%. Residents (and councillors) have stressed that they did not oppose the club itself being in operation, but nearby streets have had problems with anti-social behaviour and nuisance on club nights including taxi touts operating at all hours and there was a strong concern that any expansion in numbers would make matters worse. There were ...
HAZEL BLEARS' EXPENSES BLOODY HELL HAZEL!!! The full extent of Hazel Blears' expenses are revealed today...That's Hazel Blears, MP for Salford, one of the most deprived areas in Europe. They include £1,000 a month mortgage on a flat in London, £200 on bath towels...hundreds of pounds on a posh hotel, £1,773 on two TVs in less than [...]
I can understand that RoSPA (the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) feels the need to lobby for something to be done. Their name pretty much sums it up: preventing accidents. I don't want to prevent all accidents. Having some accidents is an eminently sensible trade-off in a society where we don't want our children to be shut inside their houses and we don't want our every action to be constrained by a barrage of Heath-and-Safety laws. But a report issued by the European Child Safety Alliance two days ago and promoted in the UK by RoSPA shows not ...
Update: Media Guardian reports that the Telegraph could face prosecution over the expenses story:...lawyers said that, if claims the paper paid up to £300,000 for the information ‑ reportedly contained in a computer disk stolen from the parliamentary fees office ‑ were accurate, both the mole and the paper remained at risk of criminal prosecution."The person who leaked the expenses information is
Stephen Tall has written a salient piece on LDV, What must happen for the Lib Dems to overtake Labour? The question posed is not as unrealistic as it may sound. The Liberal Democrats, I believe, can be the main party of opposition within the next ten to fifteen years. Stephen is right in his assessment that in the foreseeable future the only possible party that we can replace is the Labour Party, and his analysis that Labour has abandoned any commitment to a socialist ideology is so very obvious, that the primary reason for the existence of a Labour Party ...
Astonishingly, after nearly two years, my local councillors have deigned to communicate with me, to express their disgust at the council's decision to go ahead with plans to reduce Kingsbury Road from four traffic lanes to two. Now I know Kingsbury Road pretty well, and I know that drivers race along the stretch near the park because it's straight and flat. This doesn't seem to stop them from finding imaginative ways to lose control and crash but there you go, as they say. Best of all, when the traffic is heading towards the station, it runs into the main shopping ...
..Or "Shooting fish in a barrel #97"John Prescott has had his lavatory seat repaired twice in the last two years (on expenses). Presumably it gets a fair amount of wear and tear.Oh, and the taxpayer paid to stick "Mock Tudor" beams on the front of his house. How tasteless! Shouldn't these expense claims go through a sort of "taste police" provided by a board of people from Islington?
Confetti strewn lawn Rich with footprints running through The falling blossom
As well as the weird claim by a male Tory MP for Tampax we have these tantalising snippets from the Guardian:One (Tory MP) claimed £160 to have his Aga cooker serviced and another charged £98.63 to have a swimming pool boiler fixed at his country home. A former Tory minister claimed for the piano tuner, and a shadow minister had his house newly decorated with Farrow and Ball paint - the most
.....about anything untoward in those receipts. I think that any Lib Dem MP with something to hide should come forward now before the meeja get hold of the info. If there isn't a Lib Dem MP that hasn't done anything that wouldn't be seen as unreasonable in the `court of public opinion` then let's just publish [...]
I am sure i'm not the only person who is sick to the back teeth hearing about seemingly endless MP's expenses revelations on an almost daily basis. Finally the tabloids have got what they have been so desperate for for months and that is (allegedly) controversial details about Gordon Brown's own expense claims. So they smell blood. This issue is a real worry on two fronts. Firstly and foremost it is a distraction from the real issues the Government and Country faces. The economy and treasury (and soon public services) are in a terrible state. That should be the focus ...
First, news that the world's smallest pigs are thriving. Pygmy Hogs (I guess Pygmy Pigs would sound silly) released into the wild have been captured routing around on camera: Also captured on film is the rare Java Rhino in Indonesia. And lastly, rhinos at a Kent safari park are getting chapped ears in the cold. Ah bless.
Fri 8th
11:08
Scottish Labour MP claimed 5p for carrier bag at Ikea...Male Tory MP claimed for Tampax!
Oh goodness me. We're getting an avalanche of expenses minutiae now...this list is from the Evening Standard. Why would a male Tory MP need Tampax?!Ikea carrier bag: bought for 5p by Scottish Labour MP.Chocolate Santa Claus: 59p - claimed in 2006 by a Welsh Labour MP.Pizza cutter: £3 from the Bodum shop in Oxfordshire for a Tory backbencher.Jellied eels: bought for £1.31 and claimed by an Essex
After someone told me to check out the Lancashire Hotpots I found this song that made me giggle so I thought I would share it with you dear readers. A real taste of Lancashire is this readers!
I recently wrote an article for Lib Dem Voice about the new internet law ammendments heading though the EU parliament. I was against the proposals to allow ISPs to block internet access without legal action. I would appear, however, that the parliament has ammended the legislation to fix this potentially catastrophic law. From the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8036341.stm I'm going to buy something to celebrate, I think!
Some random linkage to start off your day:The cartoon in this morning's Graun is very amusing. Lots of Fat Cats showing us their bottoms. May have to watch Question Time. I missed it because I was at Liberal Drinks, but according to the Twitterverse Dorries was something to behold. I particularly like these tweets: 1, 2, 3. As several people have reminded me, today is THE EIGHTH OF MAY, THE EIGHTH OF MAY!!! It is compulsory to give people a Motorhead earworm. Here you go. Also, don't forget that Monday is Towel Day (the anniversary of the death of Douglas ...
The Telegraph has leaked information about what our MP's have been claiming and has focused on the cabinet. You can see an extract of the Telegraph report below: Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, received a 50 per cent discount on his council tax from his local authority but claimed the full amount. He discovered the "mistake" last summer within weeks of the High Court ordering that MPs release details of their expenses. He has repaid the money.Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, claimed thousands of pounds to improve his constituency home after he had announced his resignation as an MP. He ...
Hartlepool UA, RossmereLab 532 (42.3; +5.2)UKIP 300 (23.9; -4.5)LD Pamela Turnedge 166 (13.2; -6.4)BNP 157 (12.5; +12.5)Con 102 (8.1; -6.9)Majority 232Turnout 26.7%Lab holdPercentage change is since May 2008Party defending seat: Lab. Cause: Death.
Our campaign to stop the proposed "Sports Zone" in Heaton Park has reached the letters page of the Manchester Evening News. Thursday, 07 May 2009 Kick sport zone into touch COUNCILLOR Mike Amesbury (Postbag, April 30) accuses Bury Lib Dems of 'carping from the sidelines' in our campaign to save Heaton Park from Manchester council's plans for a private sport zone in the
Star of the week this week surely has to go to Joanna Lumley.
There has been quite a lot of local interest in the planning application for the Old Coach House in Elm Road, Hook. The request was to turn it into a doctor's or dentist's surgery. With existing GPs and dentists at either end of Elm Road, this had generated some controversy. At the same time NHS Kingston has still not awarded the contract for a new walk-in clinic in the...
The vote by Czech Senators on Wednesday to approve the Lisbon Treaty, thus completing its parliamentary ratification process in the Czech Republic, was widely welcomed by MEPs in the final week of this Parliament's term in Strasbourg. The EU has spent far too much time gazing at its own navel over its treaty arrangements, but if the Lisbon Treaty enters into force it will make the EU more democratic and much more efficient. Of course, Ireland still needs to ratify it; a second referendum is foreseen for October. And the famously euro-sceptic Czech President Vaclav Klaus still has to sign ...
By the police in Tenaha Texas: Two key things of interest to us in the UK. First the forfeiture laws which are becoming popular in the UK, secondly the use of threats to kidnap children, something which we are seeing more of in the UK. This is all too predictable. Give people coercive authority over others and [...]
I've just been on a fascinating visit to Liverpool. The main thrust of the trip was a conference entitled "Positive Futures". It was a brave stab at picking up some of the positive vision of the Transition movement and applying it to local government. In a nutshell - we councils have a moral duty to do as much as we can to prevent climate change and we have a duty of care to prepare for the economic and social dislocation of peak oil or life after cheap oil. However we're not very good at presenting a positive vision of the ...
The Telegraph's publication of the details of MPs' more ludicrous expenses claims, has given our MPs another chance to show off their high moral standing. Maybe PMQs hasn't quite reached the levels of Didier Drogba's hysterical wide-eyed finger jabbing, but it's surely not too far away. Not content with making a total idiot of herself yesterday [...]
Nominations have now closed for the elections for the European Parliament on 4 June 2009. This is the full statement of persons nominated. Liberal Democrat list is headed up by our existing Member of the European Parliament Chris Davies MEP. Chris is a great friend to our area and has been to Prestwich on many occasions. Here's his campaign website. Meanwhile Prestwich residents are being encouraged by Bury Council to "vote early" or vote by post" with the following message: Prestwich residents are being encouraged to vote early, or use a postal vote, in the forthcoming European elections. Read the ...
Membergeddon is here. It's depressing really, here I am reduced to the status of appalled onlooker. How to bring something new to the party? Deconstructing it, explaining that it exposes a culture of MPs being used to free money? Nah, that's covered already. Express horror and outrage in a witty and clever way? I'm just not that horrified or outraged yet. The story's not exactly a shock. How about veering into the realm of pure fantasty? Let's try that: Maybe Labour supporters, after seeing what their leaders get up to, how different things are for MPs, will finally start asking ...
We are unsure is it a labour man we all know jumping from Salford Townhall or the Prime minister. Contact us with your guess as to who it is. Just a bit of fun....
Comment we live for our Children so what in gods name is this government doing again failing the people 24dash.com Three million UK children living in poverty: Government accused of breaking promises Campaigners tonight accused the Government of "breaking its promises" as figures showed nearly three million children still live below the poverty line. Ministers have admitted that [...]
Fri 8th
09:01Cabinet ministers under fire over 'dubious' expenses claims it gets worse lets get them out
24dash.com Cabinet ministers under fire over 'dubious' expenses claims Harriet Harman today defended her Cabinet colleagues after receipts were disclosed detailing thousands of pounds of expenses. The receipts, printed in the Daily Telegraph, showed Prime Minister Gordon Brown paid his own brother for cleaning services and Justice Secretary Jack Straw refunded about £1,500 in overpayments for council [...]
Fri 8th
08:58There is "serious doubt" about the government meeting its 2011 target for maths teaching, the Common...
Serious doubt over maths targets <!–Last Updated – 7th May 2009 at 11:33 PM –> In a report on mathematics performance in primary schools, MPs warned that the Department for Children, Schools and Families needs to "radically" re-think its strategy for pupil attainment. Currently, the department has a target for 84.5 per cent of primary school pupils [...]
Nominations having closed, it looks like it's a four horse race in Upper Gipping. The candidates are as follows: Caroline Byles (Conservative)John Cook (Labour)Andrew Stringer (Green)Mark Valladares (Liberal Democrat)Interestingly, it looks like three of us live outside of the division, with only the Green able to vote for himself. So we'll be relying on others to make sure that we get any votes at all...My Conservative opponent has already collected her leaflets, so I'll assume that she'll be out delivering them. What the Greens will be doing waits to be seen, whilst I'm not expecting much activity from Labour. As ...
The Telegraph has a sensational scoop today with the leaked information about 13 Cabinet Ministers and their expenses. There seem to be some suspicious things going on such as Brown only having repaid an "oversight" when the Telegraph approached him yesterday, Jack Straw having claimed a full council tax rebate even though he already had a 50% discount on this and others. The revelations certainly do not make for edifying reading. The official line is that no resignations are necessary but I am not so sure and it is not for those involved to decide this. Once the details sink ...
...and why Factcheck got it wrong. The DNA database contains profiles of over 800,000 people who were not convicted, but had a DNA sample kept anyway. The Government claim is that, had these 800,000 profiles not been kept, many criminals would have evaded justice. Here's what the Home Office told FactCheck yesterday "Between May 2001 and December 2005 approximately 200,000 DNA profiles held on the database which would previously have had to be removed before legislation was passed in 2001 because the person was acquitted or charges dropped, resulted in nearly 8,500 profiles from some 6,290 individuals being linked with ...
In 1909, Mr Lloyd George went to the Cabinet fourteen times in order to hammer out approval for the People's Budget before he took it to the House of Commons. That is an extraordinary level of co-operation; that is the way the system is supposed to work. When I and my fellow Lib Dem bloggers went to talk to Mr Chris Huhney-Monster, on the day before the 2009 Budget, he mentioned this because, in more than thirty years of looking at Budgets in one form or another, he cannot think of a single case of the Cabinet being informed more ...
Yesterday's announcement that Wales is in fact going backwards in its ambition to eradicate child poverty is a major blow for the Labour-Plaid Cymru Government but even more so for those families and children who are being condemned to living below the poverty line. Statistics released by the Department for Work and Pensions show that the number of children living in poverty in Wales is the highest of any UK nation - and is rising. After housing costs are taken into account, 32% of children in Wales were in poverty in 2008, defined as living in households with less than ...
Last night on Question Time the rather right-wing journalist, Bruce Anderson, expressed his sympathy with the leader of the Scottish Labour Party for having to put up with Gordon Brown as prime minister by saying it was 'like an incubus round his neck'. I really, really, really hope he meant 'an albatross round his neck' [...]
Pink rink firm hired for fair despite debts COUNCIL chiefs have re-employed the controversial pink rink bosses who still owe them £65,000 from last year. Salford council is owed the cash by North West Funfairs which staged the rink and funfair on the lawns in front of Swinton Civic Centre, on Chorley Road. After the council threatened legal [...]
It would be illuminating to know how much the Telegraph paid to "obtain" details of MPs expense claims a few weeks in advance of their complete release by the Commons authorities.They have apparently bought the complete disc of all the claims.So, how much did they pay for the privilege of selectively releasing government ministers' claims in advance of those from MPs from other parties?We shall
Nominations have now closed for the elections for the European Parliament on 4 June 2009. This is the full statement of persons nominated. Liberal Democrat list is headed up by our existing Member of the European Parliament Chris Davies MEP. Chris is a great friend to our area and has been to Prestwich on many occasions. Here's his campaign website. Meanwhile Prestwich residents are being encouraged by Bury Council to "vote early" or vote by post" with the following message: Prestwich residents are being encouraged to vote early, or use a postal vote, in the forthcoming European elections. Read the ...
Homelessness MORE Salfordians could be left homeless, according to a council report. The report from a cabinet meeting with Salford City Council this week, showed that the number of mortgage repossessions in the third quarter of this year is 98 per cent higher, almost double what it was in 2007. In addition there were 284 landlord possession [...]
It has been obvious for some time that there are serious water leaks under Hyde Road, with water emerging at various points. I know that I and my Liberal Democrat Colleagues have reported this on several occasions since Christmas. Whilst I am sure that United Utilities have diligently investigated these reports, it's noticeable how carefully they have avoided being noticed doing so by local residents. Now a massive collapse has happened, resulting in more than a mile of Hyde Road being cut-off for traffic. As this is a major road into Manchester and an important bus route, many people are ...
Before the much maligned Tesco in West End Lane opens I thought I'd just place on the public record some of the hoarding we have enjoyed over the weeks and months... Along with the very loud and explicit commitments to being a store that works with the community. What might be the evidence of those links with the community? Low use of plastic bags with no automatic provision to shoppersHigh profile provision of cotton and bags for lifeActive support for the West Hampstead local food festival and the Jester FestivalInvolvement of staff in West Hampstead community events - through the ...
The Government yesterday outlined the details of a new scheme to remove innocent people from the DNA database. Under the new proposals innocent people's profiles would be removed after 6 years, or after 12 years for those arrested for, but not convicted of, the most serious offences. The move comes after the ECHR's landmark ruling in December 2008 that the policy of indefinitely retaining DNA
The Eurovision Song Contest is nearly upon us, so I have taken the bullet for you and watched videos of all of this year's entries on the BBC Eurovision website. If you visit the site, do take a look at some of the breathtakingly sincere contestant biographies - for example this gem from Russia. If you want detail and musical insight, Jon Jacob has reviewed the songs much more thoroughly than I have - I'm going to limit myself to a sentence or two for each. (For some even shorter comments, see Mike's tweet-splurge.) I'll also try to avoid commenting ...
I feel that there is a certain Pinky and the Brain like relationship developing between myself and awesomegore:"What're we going to do tonight Charlotte?" "The same thing we do every night, Jennie! Try to take over Calder Valley/The Blogosphere/The party/The World*"(*delete as applicable) Liberal Drinks was ace. There was lovely burkesworks and Rob Knight and Joe Otten and Anders and Charlotte and Darrell and Hywel and matgb and me and much beer and pie and nibbles and plotting. More Hot Liberal Action has never been had in one place, and it's only a shame that there were not more resplendent ...
This evening the wife found herself being added to the crime statistics of Irwell Riverside - in particular, the crime statistics of an area close to Encombe Place. Frequent visitors to my blog will be all too aware that I have often discussed the problems of crime associated with the Youth Offender Service located on Encombe Place and the impact of it's proposed move to a residential cul-de-sac in Blackfriars. As "the other half" returned from her piano lesson at her tutor's apartment in what was once the Salford Royal Hospital, she was presented with the aftermath of an attempted ...
I had an evening off from campaigning in London tonight, as I had a longstanding engagement to be the guest speaker at the Gladstone Supper Club in Luton, whom I regaled with tales of my travails as a young journalist in Asia. The Club was established many years ago, as a way of lettting the [...]
