I'd just like to say that I am disgusted by the Telegraph's actions in getting Nadine Dorries' blog taken down. It's an own goal, as now everyone is interested about what she said about the dear Barclay brothers. I say all this with the proviso that I think the Telegraph owners may have done Dorries a favour by taking down her blog, given some of the comments she's made recently. But that's just a flippant aside. Basically, taking down blogs without a court order (which is what Google demand before taking anything down) is unacceptable.
There's an interesting piece in the Times tomorrow. As the suggestion of a regular commenter, I ran a poll a week or so ago asking how many MPs would be left in the House of Commons after the next election. The top choice was 300-400 with 31%, followed by 200-300 with 22%. The Times says that 325 MPs will be "swept away" at the next election either by standing down prior to it, deselection or simply ejection by the voters. As many as 30 will be forced to resign directly because of the expenses scandal, while whips expect more than ...
Today has been an busy and varied day for me starting from a train full of Leinster fans, doing some European election campaigning to turning up to campaign in favour of Scott Rennie outside the general assembly. I have just returned home to see that the General Assembly have voted 326 votes to 267 to uphold the appointment of Scott Rennie as the new minister of Queen's Cross Congregation Aberdeen. Earlier today there were two protests outside the Assembly building in Edinburgh one which it looks like Westboro Baptist Church didn't appear to turn up at had a max of ...
From the Leicester Mercury: Police have been called in to look into alleged dirty tricks relating to the upcoming county elections.Leaked e-mails show that County Hall deputy leader Nicholas Rushton offered a pre-election deal to get a rival candidate to stand down in the Valley division in North West Leicestershire.For two years, a legal row between the council and community has been ongoing over the use of Hardulph's Primary School, in Breedon on the Hill, as a community centre.Villager Simon Jones decided to stand as an independent in the June 4 elections because he believed that Coun Rushton had not ...
Malcolm Bruce's expenses/allowances are covered by the Telegraph tomorrow. I've read through the piece. His wife, who works for him, uses part of their home as an office and that is claimed for. He's done nothing wrong. I'm not sure where the Telegraph are going with a lot of this stuff. A side note to the Telegraph "Keeping it in the family" special: One of the provisions passed through the Commons a couple of weeks ago was for MPs' employees to be employed by the Commons authorities instead of the MPs themselves. This should have come in ages ago, but ...
A quick late night post to let you know that the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has voted to uphold the appointment of Scott Rennie as Minister of Queen's Cross Church, Aberdeen. I'm really happy for Scott and wish him and David all the best with their move. I'm also thrilled that Liberay Youth Scotland organised an event in solidarity with Scott at the General Assembly. No doubt Stephen will blog about it soon as I know that he was there. The BBC news website devoted I think a disproportionate amount of coverage to a few people protesting ...
Mike Smithson has a blog post about how voting Green in the North West will not effect the BNP vote and personally I think I should go into a little more detail with this. First of all I think the outcome of the election is going to be 2.2.2.1.1 but I am not going to mention which party will get what as then many will throw around assumptions and might start attacking me. The election in the North West is going to be interesting as two of the three main political parties are disliked by the general public. People are ...
Anthony Horowitz was interviewed on Radio 4 this morning. He confirmed that more episodes of Foyle's War are being filmed. This takes care of one of Lord Bonkers' reasons for going on the G20 march. While we are waiting for them to be shown, enjoy the Foyle's War website.
Sat 23rd
21:34
The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passio...
As a strong libertarian I wanted to post a libertarian counter to Julians post on liberal revolution which was referred to in this site. I believe that we need to be very careful as libertarians how we deal with issues such as prosititution, lap dancing, and pornography, and also how we deal with the wider issues of sexuality where it appears that we as libertarians spend most of our efforts looking at the needs of individuals rather the couples. Last Saturday I was talking to a woman in a club. She was educated and articulate and worked in a ...
In the wake of the allegations against Ian Gibson, Labour MP for Norwich North, I thought it would be interesting to share with you comments that I have heard from constituents of Dr Gibson since the news became public. I work in the heart of Dr Gibson's constituency and live on the edge of it and many of my work colleagues form part of his core electorate, and the reaction from them was akin to being let down by a trusted friend. Ian Gibson has been able to position himself in recent years not just as a Labour MP, but ...
You can sense when she speaks that there's a whole load of acid inside wanting to come out – `why aren't I part of the establishment?` she suppresses. On the latest edition of QT a typical she said a typical `Lucanism` – `I hope not many but worry that quite a few are`. Oh for fuck's [...]
Thanks to Liberal Democrat Voice for posting the picture of the endorsement which local council candidate David Kendall found when campaigning in Brentwood, Essex. The note begins: "I would rather remove my nipples with a rusty tin opener than vote Labour or Conservative". A similar message appears to be reaching our people campaigning to achieve a Welsh Liberal Democrat Member of the European Parliament.
Grabbed the opportunity of the Policing Bill - which proposes changing the rules around lap-dancing - to extract a promise. The new legislation, when passed, will make lap dancing clubs have to apply for license as a sex encounter establishment. Currently they only need the same license as a pub. Part of the concern in Crouch End, outside of just the application (now on hold) for such a club at the Music Palace, was that an application would be rushed through and get granted before the new legislation - and then the legislation would allow all existing lap dancing clubs ...
Spotted in Brentwood, where David Kendall is standing for the Liberal Democrats in the local elections. {Brentwood election poster} One of his leaflets has stuck on a resident's door with "I'm voting for you Davey baby" and "Get these idiots out" written on it. On the door next to it, a piece of paper which says: I'd rather remove my nipples with a rusty tin opener than vote Labour or Conservative. I will only open my door to Dave Kendall's crew. All in all, it's probably quite a good thing David got his nomination papers in on time and so ...
Many MPs, with steam coming out of their ears, have avidly been reading the press reports concerning John Wick, security expert (whom some paranoid Labour MPs are accusing of being involved with MI6), and Henry Gewanter, PR man. These reports in the Times, Wall St Journal, and the Mail, among others, suggest that these two [...]
The Rose Theatre was always going to be bigger than the building it occupies. We had always aspired to hold a Youth Festival each summer, which would bring young performers and artists together from across the world. And it is happening this year! From 3rd to 12th July this year the first International Youth Arts Festival will host more than 90 acts, events and workshops...
It seems that Rhondda Cynon Taf ruling group does not like too much expression of views across the chamber at full council - when, of course, the press is likely to be present. Non-Labour groups will henceforward be restricted to only two motions per year, reports Cllr Mike Powell. There is no such restriction on questions and motions* to Neath Port Talbot council, but perhaps our ruling Labour group, basking in the glory of so many quango-written congratulatory reports, feels more secure than the embattled RCT people. *Constitution, PART 4, RULES OF PROCEDURE 9. and 10., if anyone wants to ...
I received today the following email message from a relative of the great Liberal Prime Minister, replying to my post about the leading UKIP man's mysterious relationship with the great radical. After giving some background, the message concludes I think it is perfectly reasonable to believe Sir Henry's (Bannerman) mother is a great great (etc) Aunt of David, but that does not make him a nephew of Sir H. I think that is right. Perhaps the Telegraph should begin to investigate.
Welcome to the 117th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (10th-16th May 2009), together with a hand-picked quintet, mostly courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down. 1. Clegg on expenses - but what should he do if Lib Dems are named and shamed? by Stephen Tall on Lib Dem Voice. LDV commenters' three-point plan for how Nick should deal with Lib Dem MP expenses' offenders. 2. Is it time to ...
This entry shows some of the futility of the debate about expenses claims. Back in 2005 a member of my staff who was an intern put in a claim for handcream. The claim was rejected.I was phoned by a newspaper about this whilst driving to Devon. My wife spoke to them and we couldn't remember anything about the claim.I have since arrived in Devon and checked the files. That is how I know the
Well, I suppose it was inevitable. He deserves full marks for chutzpah in trying to brave it out. But finally Cameron has switched off his life support machine. What about Julie Kirkbride now then? If Andrew MacKay needs to stand down for declaring a second home when his wife was also claiming one, then surely she should stand down for exactly the same offence, shouldn't she? Or to put it another way: MacKay and Kirkbride claimed £280,000 together to pay for two second homes. That's £140,000 too much. So each of them are co-responsible for that, surely. So, you could ...
Postal votes for the European elections have been landing on people's doormats over the past few days. Mine was hand-delivered to the house today (here in Tower Hamlets there have been so many scandals about postal votes being purloined in the past that the Council is trying to make things safer). When I attended a [...]
On Tuesday evening, LDV emailed those Lib Dem party members signed-up to our private discussion forum inviting them to take part in a survey focusing on MPs' expenses. Many thanks to the 240+ of you who have so far completed it; we've been publishing the results on LDV over the last few days. You can catch up on the results of all our past exclusive LDV members' surveys by clicking here. 1. LDV asked: The following MPs have been named by the Telegraph in connection with the MPs' expenses row. Please indicate those you believe - on the basis of ...
Have BNP activists got nothing better to do than post comments on Daily Mail stories and then vote them all up? (Yes I do appreciate the irony of a political blogger asking that question, but even so...). The Daily Mail is running that story about how the people in the BNP Euro leaflet aren't British, don't support the BNP and certainly didn't say any of the things they're quoted as saying. So, of course, the BNP fanboys have to pile in with all the usual stuff: they're sweet innocent people being victimised by all the main parties who do the ...
Hampshire's Daily Echo has an article on how you can build a duck island just like Peter Viggers' for £20. Read it here. Hat tip: I spotted this on another blog, but I regret to say that I have lost the link now. (Got carried away writing letters of complaint about the treatment of Jo Swinson and Nadine Dorries.) Whoever it was, if you let me know....
Nadine Dorries' blog has been taken down at the request of the Daily Telegraph. This is quite shameless behaviour by the Telegraph. They started out doing us a service by publishing a lot of detail about MPs' expenses that might well never otherwise have seen the light of day. But they have really taken their eye off the ball since the first few revelations. They must have about 200 decent stories to tell about moats, duck houses, flipping and mortgages, but they have started to fabricate stories around the flimsiest evidence. To be fair, they have published a few saints ...
Yesterday was the deadline for responding to the Secretary of State's Proposed Changes to the draft policy on Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation in the East of England [PDF]. This is almost the final stage of a very lengthy process which will determine how many pitches Epping Forest district is expected to provide. It is an issue which Janet Whitehouse and I and other Liberal Democrat councillors have been thinking about very carefully. {Liberal Democrat district councillor Janet Whitehouse with proposed Gypsy site at Woodside, Thornwood in the background} The submission which I put in as Leader of the Liberal Democrat ...
A quick quiz for you. One of the Haringey local newspapers, The Hornsey Journal, had this story on 14 May: Under fire councillors opt to take pay freeze The recession is about to hit councillors in the pocket, after both Haringey Labour and Liberal Democrat parties decided NOT to take a pay rise ... Councillor Claire Kober, Leader of the Labour-controlled council, said, "... This move will mean any savings can go straight into providing essential services for the people of Haringey." So, do you think that Labour voted through changes that resulted in the council's allowances bill: a) Staying the ...
I just heard on the Radio 4 news that my local Bracknell MP Andrew Mackay is standing down at the next election. Frankly, after last night's meeting that I blogged about here it was inevitable. He has claimed that it was after a conversation with David Cameron but the meeting must have been a contributing factor to his decision. I linked earlier on today to a story posted on Liberal Burblings about the fact that Mr MacKay's wife was challenged about them double claiming second home allowances 3 years ago on a radio show and she hung up on the ...
Last week Kuwait's 50-seat Parliament was up for election and, for the first time, the victors include women. Four of the sixteen female candidates who stood were elected, including Massouma al-Mubarak who has been the path-breaking female politician of Kuwait. Back in 2005, when women were given the right to vote and to stand for Parliament, she didn't become a Member of Parliament herself, but did become the first female Cabinet minister. She served in the Cabinet in more than one role, resigned as health minister after a hospital fire in 2005 killed two people, accepting 'political and moral' responsibility ...
Two hours on from the qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix, I can finally breathe again. One thing about my health at the moment is that an adrenaline rush quickly sends me crashing down, drained of energy. I shouldn't probably watch things that I'm going to get all in a lather about, but I can't avoid them at the moment. Anyway, everything about Monaco is marvellous - even if it were pouring with rain and the cars were going round behind the safety car for the entire race it would still be glamorous and sexy. This qualifying session was better ...
All, The County Council has published the list of all councillors and the allowences and expences they received last year. Shockingly, it shows that the current Conservative County Councillor for Shipston is the third highest recipient of our council tax money - £26,104.04! I believe strongly that at a time of economic hardship for many in our current economic climate, and with recent rises in council tax, that this level of payment is obscene. He has even received an additional £5,699 from the District Council in allowances as he also a District Councillor! If elected on June 4th, I promise ...
James Graham did an extremely good post today about the treatment of Jo Swinson MP by The Daily Telegraph regarding the suggestions that she submitted receipts for make-up and other cosmetics. He describes their treatment of her as mysoginstic and he is spot on. He also rightly points out that it is bollocks anyway but they have worded the article cleverly to make it seem like she has done what they imply. There's no point in me repeating what he has said as he has taken the words right out of my mouth so please read his post here and ...
A week ago, I wrote an article attacking the Telegraph's coverage of the MPs' expenses row under the deliberately provocative headline, What has the Telegraph done for the reputation of journalism? Amidst all the outrageous abuses by MPs that the newspaper has reported, I said, it's also been guilty of some shoddy reporting, giving equal prominence to stories which simply do not stand up to scrutiny, and deliberately omitting facts which do not fit with its headline allegations. The main point of the article, though, was to challenge how the rest of the news media was responding to the Telegraph's ...
One of the first things you notice about a political party that is decaying in government is that internal discipline collapses; signs of this existed before the expenses scandal (now named 'ChamberGate' on Twitter) but it now appears that the process of dissent and open rebellion is spreading. It is easy to see why; this [...]
At a dinner I attended recently the speaker was the conservatist of Cliffe Castle Museum at Keighley. This is a true story he told: Cliffe Castle Museum has an Egyptian mummy (nicknamed Shirley) in its collection. Wanting to know more about her the conservationist and a colleague arranged to take the mummy for an X-ray at a hospital in Leeds. This was done at night, partly so as not to get in the way of normal appointments and partly to avoid alarming the other patients. All went well and they were on their way back to the museum in Keighley, ...
This morning on Radio 4's Excess Baggage David Attenborough stated that in his opinion the worst environmental devastation was being caused by the destuction of the rain forest in South America and Borneo in order to plant palm oil trees. He said ...
Sat 23rd
14:42
A Note of Caution about "Independent Regulation"; would it just be a government controlled quango?
In a discussion about MPs' expenses Roger Beaumont, President of Keighley and Ilkley Liberal Democrats, makes this very valid point about so-called independent bodies: "My final concern is with the suggestion that the rules should be set by 'an ...
Sat 23rd
14:40MPs Expenses: The Liberal Democrat Party Federal Executive agreed the following this week:
* There will be a code of conduct binding on Liberal Democrat parliamentarians and candidates. * All Liberal Democrat MPs will support the proposals from Sir Christopher Kelly's review of MPs' expenses. There will be no picking and ...
With all the talk of MPs' expenses and the European Election campaigns, it is all too easy to forget that in many parts of the country much of the focus is on county and unitary council and mayoral elections. County council elections tend to be skewed in favour of the Conservatives these days, as many of these councils have now been shorn of their more urban areas and so a lot more rural. The last three county council elections have been on the same day as the general election, and so finally we have a chance of focusing on the ...
With all the furore about expenses it is easy to lose sight of what they are for: they are supposed to make it possible for someone of humble means to become an MP and be able to stay in London when the business of parliament makes it necessary, whilst ...
I get about £600 per YEAR as a Town Councillor - and I do sometimes think I work as hard for the community as some MPs. In an earlier blog I wrote about how I'd tried to get Keighley Town Councillors to pay for their own refreshments at full Town ...
{cheerleader} Upon this new cyber place of ours attracting 10,000 hits, I was going to post a comment to the effect of "Raaarrggghh! Look at us! Look at us!" I forgot to do this. But now I note that in our first ten days, we attracted over 15,000 hits. These are sexy enough numbers to report, methinks. Ten days. 15,000 hits. Wah-hoooo! Thank you very much for reading. Clarification: by "hits", I'm referring to page views.
As part of Bike Week 2009, Love Your Bike.org are encouraging Bury council and businesses, schools and people in Bury to take the CycleGM Commuter Challenge. Many people think that doing regular exercise is time consuming and expensive, but it does not have to be. Staff can incorporate exercise into their routines by cycling for 15-30 minutes (2 - 5 miles) to and from work every day instead of taking the car. Over 50% of the car journeys in Greater Manchester are less than 5 miles. The commuter challenge is simple, all people have to do is cycle to and ...
The Welsh Conservatives have unveiled their big idea in the field of education this morning, free schools. Well yes, I know that school education has been free for a very long time but this is not what they are getting at. The plan is to set up schools directly funded by the Welsh Assembly Government so as to give them the freedom to make their own decisions. However, all schools will have to abide by the national curricula on the core subjects of English, Welsh, science, ICT and maths; there will be no privatisation; pupils at free schools will pay ...
Thanks a lot to everyone for all the positive feedback I've had about my article this morning. By happenstance, Alix Mortimer has just asked: Fucking disgusting. Can we get them on article 1 (accuracy) of the PCC code? The answer, at least in my view, is yes, which is why I've just spent the last couple of hours writing letters of complaint to the Telegraph, the Guardian and the BBC. And I would ask you to do the same. First off, the Telegraph. You can contact them via this page (under "What does your enquiry relate to?" select "Editorial"). My ...
'I marched because of Jonathan Ross, because schoolboys no longer wear short trousers, because you cannot get a cooked breakfast on trains any more. I marched because I can no longer patronise the Woolworth's Pick 'n' Mix counter (even if I don't tell Nanny), because Tom Croft was omitted from the British Lions touring party to South Africa, because you don't get proper wet fish shops any more.' Classic satire.
No, it is not about an MPs expenses! Two weeks ago, I wrote to my local MP, Mark Lazarowicz about the Gurkha's. I haven't had a reply and I suspect until the Government u-turn this week forced by Joanna Lumley and the Liberal Democrats, I wasn't going to get one. I now suspect I will get a gloaty one, I hope not because I will argue back on this issue. The Liberal Democrats have campaigned for five long years about this issue and finally Gordon Brown saw sense and backed down. Those who are prepared to die for this country ...
Not wanting to be left out of the furore over MPs' expenses the Western Mail has decided to play catch-up and has started a series of articles designed to shift attention back to the Welsh Assembly and how its members use their accomodation allowance. They have started today with an item on each of Leighton Andrews, Mike German and Jocelyn Davies. The paper has e-mailed all Assembly Members in South Wales West, South Wales East and South Wales Central to ask them to justify their use of this allowance. Of course the Welsh Assembly has much tighter rules than Parliament. ...
It's been quite a week for Nadine Dorries, the eccentric Tory Cornerstoner MP for Mid-Bedfordshire. Yesterday she earned copious media coverage for her suggestion that MPs are on 'suicide watch' for their Parliamentary colleagues amidst the "unbearable" Westminster atmosphere sparked by the Telegraph's MPs' expenses allegations. But when reading her blog, it wasn't that part which most caught my attention - it was this part: ... this country has never had a Prime Minister with the political courage to stand up to the British media, and award MPs the pay rise proposed year after year, by the Senior Salary Review ...
More talk, especially in The Times and The Guardian, about transforming politics. The Economist forwards a good argument in response to these things: the source of public anger was not the constitution per se but the expenses being claimed. Sure the consitution might, ultimately, be to blame for the expenses scandal but the scandal is self-correcting: with the greater accountability (MPs' expenses are to be published online) the systemic abuses are unlikely to happen again. But there are some worrying proposals that the Opposition (both Tories and Lib Dems) seem keen on; proposals that directly conflict with the basic principles ...
It's one of those Saturdays when many community groups are working hard in the area. Gorton 100 are busy collecting stories and photos on Gorton Market. Meanwhile, the Heritage Trail Group are tackling the Butterfly Garden with machetes. All help gratefully received. In fact, there is work planned for all of next week on the Butterfly Garden, so if anybody is looking for some useful outlet for kids' energy during half term, just point them to the Butterfly Garden.
I have never had much time for Nadine Dorries. Frankly, I thought her recent claims that MPs were being pushed to breaking point by the "torture" of having their expenses claims made public were just ludicrous. She went on to say that MPs were justified in their use of the accomodation allowance because officials from the Commons fees office had told them it was theirs to do with as they wished. "MPs were told to use that money because it wasn't expenses, it was an allowance in lieu of not having pay rises," she said. She has also accused The ...
The expenses scandal is a bit like a rubiks cube puzzle - every time you think it should be solved and put away there's a square of orange in the bottom right of the otherwise perfectly red top and vice versa. Of course, there's always the temptation to flip the orange with the red - to take the easy way out of the puzzle and claim victory, but unfortunately this scandal is much more complex than that and needs patience and logic. As with all puzzles sometimes it takes a pair of different eyes to pick it up and solve ...
The owners of the Telegraph have taken down Nadine Dorries blog according to a blog post by Dizzy which you can read by following the link. The Telegraph bosses ordered the service provider to take the blog down and the provider of the service listened and did what they were told. I am not going to go into to much attack on any of the two parties because I have a funny feeling that this story is going to take a twist. If the media did take down Dorries then this is evidence for the political commentators who claim that ...
The Press Association are reporting that Gosport Tory MP Sir Peter Viggers has apologised for his error of judgement in claiming for a home for his ducks: Sir Peter said he felt "ashamed and humiliated" over his expenses claim for an island to house the ducks in his pond.He described his decision to include the feature in his taxpayer-funded second home claims as a "ridiculous and grave error of judgment".The ducks had never liked the feature and it was no longer being used, he added.
Yesterday I met with Chris Davies MEP in Salford, who is on a tour of the North West collecting signatures on a petition to clean-up MEPs expenses in Brussels. Both myself and Lib Dem Councillor Lynn Drake (Langworthy) signed the petition, which you can also sign on-line at Chris' website. Open and Honest Expenses petition We the undersigned call upon each member of the European Parliament to declare in full all money they receive from public sources and to agree to: 1. Reform the system for payment of expenses and allowances 2. Demand repayment of money paid to MEPs who ...
Welcome to an occasional new LDV feature, YouTube 'cos we want to, rounding-up a couple of the most amusing/bad/interesting YouTube videos doing the rounds. This week, our focus is MPs' expenses (what else?). First up, let's enjoy Tory MP Anthony "I've got a very very large house" Steen's joyously apoplectic radio interview defending his claims from the taxpayer for treating 500 of his trees: Then there's American Comedy Central's Jon Stewart giving his Daily Show take on MPs' expenses - and coming up with the best one-word description yet coined, 'Scamalot': The Daily Show With Jon Stewart M - Th ...
Yesterday Mr Shofiqur Rahman Chowdhury MP called on me, and here he is presenting me with a plaque commemorating the martyrdom of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. We discussed the AL government's intention to update the 1973 war crimes Act to bring it into conformity with the principles of international law, embodied in the rules of the International Criminal Court, and Mr Chowdhury said they would be looking for advice from experts, so that the world could see that scrupulous observance of international norms is being observed. JW won our last game of ping-pong 2-0 so he's now ahead of me ...
To Cynthia Samuels on BlogHer, for the linkage and the lovely comment. To the Gravelly-Voiced Sex Pot for making a post which said everything I wanted to say in my rant last night, but was too angry and sweary to do as eloquently as he. And to Caron for starting the chorus of feminist rage, and {[info] - personal} po8crg (here) and Mr Quist for joining it. To {[info] - personal} matgb for walking the dogs this morning, which means that I can have a lazy morning before my 8 hour shift tonight. To Daddy Richard, for being sweet and ...
Saturday: Well, since MPs' reputations are currently nose-diving faster than a Space-Pig in a Slitheen Battle Cruiser, and what with more damage having been done to Parliament than Big Ben getting clipped by a crash-landing spaceship, when has there been a better time to get out the old DVD of that story where Dr Woo discovers that the Cabinet have been replaced by a bunch of RAPACIOUS alien MONSTERS disguised as greedy, giggly human beans? Who says SATIRE is DEAD? Now, before I let Daddy Richard start his review, I'm just going to have to check his forehead for zips... ...
Good for them is all I can say, and shame upon the school. PUPILS walked out of classrooms in protest against Big Brother-styled CCTV cameras recording their lessons. They were so angry with the installation of the equipment at Davenant Foundation School in Chester Road, Loughton, they refused to return until they received assurances it had [...]
I've been writing a blog every day for three years now, all about my life as a Councillor. I occasionally get comments about the state of local services, and more regularly about the Lib Dems or the general non-Councillor activities that I mention on here. But the posts that have received the most comments by far have been about problems with enhanced CRB forms. I first heard about the problem on TV when there was a programme about information being disclosed in these enhanced CRBs that was nothing to do with actual convictions. I then became aware of the problem ...
European elections are now less than two weeks away, and the Vale of Clwyd Liberal Democrats are optimistic that Alan Butt Philip will be elected Wales' first Lib Dem MEP on June 4th. Find our more about our lead candidate Alan Butt Philip on his website. Alan Butt Philip is the Welsh Liberal Democrats' lead candidate for the European elections in June. He lives in Abergavenny and is a university lecturer specialising in European politics. Married to Christina, they have three grown-up children. Alan has also been a special adviser to the UK and European Parliaments on issues such as ...
In the last in a series of looking at each of the regions (and nations) for the European Elections I today examine Yorkshire and the Humber
The people of Derwentside were rightly shocked when they heard that £7 million of council money was at risk through the fall of the Icelandic Banks. It's good news therefore that on the latest estimates from the Local Government Association at least £6.3 million will be recoverable. Those estimates are based on current legal advice that local authority deposits rank as priority claims under Icelandic law. I'd like to think this good news might spur those at County Hall sitting on the Consett Sports Centre issue to get off the fence and start planning its construction. With the report of ...
Comment what is life when will the this piece of human scum get out of prison, i know it's not very Liberal but i hope most of the people inside offer a better form of judgment, than the out of touch people in our criminal justice system hand out. Published by Hannah Wooderson for 24dash.com in Communities , [...]
Just as I assume she can no longer surprise us, another first today.she got up as I was about to leave for work, so biscuits and then 2 visits to the litter tray, followed by more biscuits.She then settles on the bed then I just sit and watch the sports news.Then the miaow, and another and another each getting slightly louder.So, up I get to go and see what's wrong (she has us both well trained) and there she is, sat by the en-suite.So I put the light on, in she toddles to investigate the shower!She dips her head and ...
Alistair Darling gave an interview to the Times on Wednesday which has attracted remarkably little comment. While the great distraction - the parliamentary allowance scandal - continues, attention isn't focused on the Great Recession, or the Government's part in it. In the interview the Chancellor predicted that the recession, in the UK, would be over by Christmas. Mr Darling wants electors, not just the Labour faithful, to know that the UK economy is set to be growing strongly by the time of the General Election in 2010. Does this kind of whistling in the dark have a political purpose? I ...
I attended Andrew MacKay's meeting in Bracknell yesterday along with about 400 other constituents. It was a very enlightening meeting. Beforehand I was asked by a radio interviewer what I thought and I stated that I felt he should stand down as an MP (as I have blogged about previously) but that I was interested to hear what he had to say. There was an interesting vignette just before I entered the hall when a local constituent was trying to enter the hall with a camcorder and the man on the door was telling him that this would not be ...
One of the advantages of being effectively out of action for the past month is that because I haven't been able to even attempt to cover the expenses row, blow-by-blow, I can now afford to take a somewhat wider view. It has been a fascinating couple of weeks, revealing not just how Parliament works but how the media does too. Were the Telegraph right to publish these expenses details given the fact that they were due to be published this summer anyway? On balance, I'm afraid I think they were. To start with, I am deeply sceptical that the fees ...
As of the 1st June, the Bank of England has a new statutory obligation to "contribute to protecting and enhancing the stability of the financial systems of the UK." What's odd about this, from my point of view, is that financial systems and markets can never be stabilised. They are inheriently chaotic. We swing wildly from growth to recession and back again. True stability would be 0% growth, forever. Everyone keeps making exactly what they're making, everyone consumes exactly what they're consuming. Except even that wouldn't be stable, because we live on a whole planet of different economies, all interacting ...
Exciting scenes in Bracknell last night. Mr Wiggy Andrew MacKay appeared on BBC News 24 after his public meeting. He told BBC South's political correspondent, Peter Henley, that three-quarters of the hall applauded positive points about him (MacKay) and that only one quarter of the hall applauded negative points about him. At that point in the interview (see below), a gentleman interupted to accuse Mr MacKay of "misrepresenting" the mood of the meeting. Indeed, Peter Henley said that Mr MacKay was heckled throughout, mainly with shouts of "Resign" and "Give it back". The Independent have an excellent report of the ...
Yes We Can close Guantanamo! All we need to do is construct an 'appropriate legal framework' to allow the indefinite detention of of those pesky inmates who, inconsiderate and thoughtless terrorist scum that they are, haven't given us enough evidence to convict them of any actual crime. (hat tip to Tristan for the video) This was depressingly predictable. The question isn't, "who will be Britain's answer to Obama?" The question is, "is Obama the US's answer to Blair?" You know the drill: A charismatic, profoundly religious progressive leader who dresses up the same old authoritarian bullshit in pretty language, a ...
A few weeks ago a letter appeared in the local newspapers from Sara Box, one of the English Democrat European candidates, advocating her desire to create an English Parliament. She is absolutely right in referring to some of the great things that have happened in Scotland over the years which include the abolition of student tuition fees and free personal care for the elderly. These achievements are not necessarily the result of Scotland having its own Parliament though. Instead, they are a result of Lib Dems being in coalition government - introducing a much fairer society for the Scottish people. ...
Some of the writers on this blog were amongst the 400 or so constituents who attended the public meeting Andrew MacKay called last night. During the meeting Mr MacKay stated his intention to put himself forward for reselection to his local party and that he wishes to stand again in Bracknell for the next General Election. The feeling in the hall was very angry towards him and at least 80% of the comments were very negative towards him. There were many accusations put to him about his second homes claim and the ill feeling often spilled over into heckling and ...
This September I will be joining the Great North Swim and swimming across Lake Windermere to raise money for Guide Dogs for the Blind. Please chuck some cash my way if you can spare it. I will not just deserve your sponsorship for being foolish enough to swim a mile across lake Windermere in September, [...]
The Liberal History Group's committee had an extended debate via email a few months ago over the number of days for which Lloyd George was an MP. We'd set this as a quiz question before discovering that we didn't all agree on the answer. Leap years weren't the problem. It was the question of when do you start becoming an MP: on declaration of the result or on taking your seat? But here's a tougher one. For how many days was Joseph Ormond Andrews (1872-1909) an MP? Andrews won a by-election at Barkston Ash in October 1905, gaining the seat ...
I went up to look after my stepfather's grave yesterday evening and took my new camera with me.
On Sunday I shall be hosting this week's Britblog Roundup again. If this week you have seen any British blog posts you think particularly fine - and, yes, that can include ones on your own blog - send the links to britblog [at] gmail [dot] com by Sunday lunchtime and I shall do the rest.
{Hmmm} I've just noticed that the Labour government has finally announced its intention to reduced the interest rates for student loans. If you cast your minds back, one of the founding principles of the loan system was that there was to be no real interest as the rate was to be set on inflation. The current student loan rate of interest is in the order of 4 %, despite the fact that current inflation rate is actually a deflation rate! This move is welcome, even though Labour has dragged their heals implementing it and keep on messing up the current ...
Some people have been saying that David Cameron has been seen to punish his MPs where needed. So why have Bill Wiggin and Andrew MacKay still not said they will stand down at the next election while for much lesser offences three MPs are standing down? Answer: the three standing down are old farts who are surplus to Cameron's requirements. Cameron has made an MP stand down for a duck house, but for claiming £140,000 for a non-existent second home, that MP - Andrew MacKay - is still battling on. Similarly, nothing has happened to Julie Kirkbride. But as far ...
Our week at Bonkers Hall continues. Wednesday Like many of my readers, I demonstrated in London during the G20 summit. There are those who criticised us for lacking an agreed programme for change or even a common set of demands, so let me make it clear why I, for one, was marching through the capital that day. I marched because the global financial and economic systems are in crisis. I marched because current economic policies and institutions have overseen a system scarred by high levels of poverty and inequality, and are contributing to an environmental catastrophe. I marched because we ...
Who knew we were in a country where a female MP would be made fun of for buying make-up with her own money. Jennie Rigg wasn't best pleased with the Torygraph yesterday when it took Lib Dem MP Jo Swinson to task. Jo's crime was to have bought make-up and not claimed for it (it appeared on the same receipt as something else she did claim for). Today the Guardian's jumped on this particularly odious bandwagon, under "Claims that Britain mocked", saying "Jo Swinson: Cosmetics included in her receipts. Because she's worth it." No, you crappy, useless sad excuses for ...
Definition Neighbourhood management is a process of improving and joining up local services in disadvantaged neighbourhoods and making them more responsive to local needs. It involves neighbourhood management partnerships of local residents, together with key agencies and service providers, using community information to improve services and reduce gaps in outcomes. The partnerships work with a neighbourhood manager, or [...]
Anyone considering voting Conservative should listen to thhis Conservative MP first http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REuoK-VS7iI This interview does seem to show the truth behind the lie. The leader of the Conservative party Cameron has done a decent job at showing disgust at the claims that have been coming in from his side. However is it just political expediency because he see the publics disgust out there? I suspect Steens attitude better represents many in the current Conservative party.
Another of my videos. This one is to encourage tourists to come to Gateshead. (I hope my appearance does not put people off!)
Yesterday's news that Wales will see very little benefit from the 2012 London Olympics is no great surprise but that does not make it any more welcome. The Welsh Affairs Select Committee has concluded that it remains unclear whether Wales will see any positive impact from the London Games, despite Government assurances that all parts of the UK would benefit. They believe that fewer grassroots sports facilities will be built and existing projects will face financial problems. Wales is estimated to be losing about £100m of lottery funding, although the UK Government puts the figure at £65m. We are told ...
RT @Astrofiammante Hurrah! Just got tix for British #Humanist Assn's Darwin, Humanism and Science conference with Dawkins & Grayling in June # Lovely day... tempted to take the laptop into the garden and work there. # Jesse "The Body" Ventura: can we get him back into politics please? http://tinyurl.com/qmsr6b # A simple job of sorting out regular backups of our file server and my iTunes turned into a near-epic struggle. Bloody computers. #scrum #
Truly scary. We were told one of the candidates would be a continuation of Bush. Who knew it would be Obama? The only difference is that Obama has charisma...
Ever thought about the influence geography has on the way you vote? You probably ought to, it's had a massive effect on me. Y'see, I grew up in the 80s and did my GCSEs and A Levels in the 90s. that's under Thatcher and Major. But that's not the main reason I distrust the Conservative party, nor the main reason I hate the Tories[1]. That can be explained by a very simple statement. Anthony Steen was my MP. He's still the MP for my parents, both surviving grandparents, two aunts and four cousins. Yes, that Anthony Steen. For a very ...
Crime is usually relatively low in Chorlton, but that is not the case this year and I met with Police Inspector Stephen Hubbard to discuss the efforts we are employing to turn things around. I left with grounds for optimism, but under no illusions that it was all sorted out. There have been 26 burglaries this month and 32 car crimes. High numbers, but a drop on last month. In both cases the bulk of the crimes occurred early in the month suggesting an effect is being felt. Only 4 car crimes have occurred in the last 8 days. I ...
This was the week that... · The Speaker of the House of Commons bowed to pressure and stood down [more] · The government finally backed down and granted Gurkhas and their families the right to settle in the UK [more] · Two Labour Lords became the first peers to be suspended from the House of Lords since 1642 [more] · The government's car scrappage scheme got off to a chaotic start [more] · A Tory MP blamed the outcry over MPs expenses on public 'jealousy' [more] · The UK's reputation suffered on credit markets as the outlook for government debt ...
