I seem to be getting a lot of traffic from people looking for a list of the candidates for Speaker of the House of Commons so I thought I would be helpful and keep a list of them updated here: Margaret Beckett John Bercow Sir Patrick Cormack Sir Alan Haselhurst Sir George Young Parmjit Dhanda Sir Alan Beith Sir Michael Lord Sir Menzies Campbell Ann Widdecombe Frank Field Richard Shepherd Also, there is a page on Wikipedia which keeps track of the contest here.
Have you noticed that petrol costs have hit the £1 a litre price again at service stations? The wholesale price of crude oil has doubled in the last few weeks and is now close to the $80 a barrel mark. Most analysts feel the price can only go up as demand picks up in China. You can't blame Brown for that. But Labour's problem is that Alistair Darling's two pence fuel levy increase, which was announced but not implemented at the last budget, comes into force in September. If the retail price continues to go up in the meantime, the ...
A few weeks ago, I had the privilege to listen to historian Niall Ferguson give a lecture on his book, The Ascent of Money, at the Hay Festival. It is now a good year since the book was published, and Ferguson used the talk to update his thesis. One of the more fascinating parts of the discussion was his observation that the economic downturn would unleash a wave of 'populist' political movements across the globe. And he characterised populism as: - Anti mainstream political parties - Anti bankers/financiers - Anti immigrant - Anti globalisation/trade - Pro inflation It's interesting that ...
There's a good post over on Himmelgarten Cafe: I can't recall anything to match this effort from the Tories, which appeared in a leaflet in just the last couple of days (I've seen the full leaflet). Three bars of equal size... Read and see the full post to see how they've managed that. Related posts:Six Days of the Condor The 1970s, especially post-Watergate, saw a series of high quality...Things that can go wrong with your election leaflet, part 94 Normally spelling the name of your party's leader wrong on...Another BNP fakery scandal The BNP like to style themselves as the ...
One very short meeting today meant that I had some time this afternoon to tidy and file. My usual reluctance to do this was added to by the difficulty of working one-handed recently, so there was even more to do than usual. A solid hour's work means that a window sill and part of the desk top are now cleared, dusted and only have on them the things that are meant to be there - a phone, a radio,
Can you spot the person and party in this local newspaper report who: (a) Slipped back to fourth place for the first time (b) Saw their vote fall (c) But say they are "pleased" with the result and hope to "ride the momentum" into next year's local elections? (Here's a clue: his name is Richard Merrin; his political party is the Conservatives.) And for a final bit of fun, here's what Richard Merrin said during the election campaign itself: "Do the Lib Dems really think the Euro election in Hornsey is a fight between them and Lab - the electorate ...
LINKS was launched today at a meeting packed with local people interested in having their say on local health and social care services. I am afraid I handed in the paper with the details of the different levels that people could be involved with, as I applied to be the sort of member that received information. The website isn't fully working yet, but I will post information as soon as I have...
When you have a responsible job you enjoy and a young family, deciding whether or not to apply to stand for parliament is not a decision to be taken lightly. Many people who read this blog will know that it has caused me some anguish, but despite the lobbying of lots of people in the Lib Dems and beyond who have urged me to stand, I simply cannot spare the time, I do not believe it is in the interests of those I teach to do so at this time and quite frankly, I don't actually want to work in ...
Thursday rolls around, so once again it's time to join David Dimbleby and a glittering panel of political stars for Question Time. This week's programme is aired from Birmingham and the panel will include Secretary of State for Wales Peter Hain, Conservative shadow communities secretary Caroline Spelman, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne, joint secretary general of Unite Derek Simpson, and director of Global Vision Ruth Lea. If you're tuning in, you can join the simultanous online Twitter debate here at #bbcqt, or the LDV debate in the thread below. Meanwhile Lib Dem blogger Mark Thompson will be liveblogging ...
Following David Cameron's initiative to open up the Conservative candidate process, I am still getting a lot of people landing on this blog after Googling: "How to become a Conservative MP". So, as part of the service, here are the application forms which you have to fill in to apply for being an approved Conservative candidate this year. Click on the forms to enlarge.
<!–Last Updated – 11th June 2009 at 02:10 PM –> by Tom Rodgers Smokers in Salford should be a rare breed, say the government, who are donating £100,000 to the council to try to stamp it out. The cash is coming from the Department of Health who have calculated that Salford is a city with one [...]
There's a reason why I haven't posted anything much this week (despite being my most successful week ever in terms of page-views – lots of people looking for information on UKIP's racism *after* the elections. Thanks for that. Very helpful). That's because it's been one of those weeks where the universe conspires against me. So far [...]
There's a lot my daughter's school excels at - it's had excellent inspection reports and the kids mostly seem really happy - but it's particularly good at those set piece occasions which bring tears to your eyes. Today it was the induction day for the new primary one children who will be starting school in August. The last few days has seen me feel a good bit better than I have in months. This has meant that I've been well enough to venture out for short periods, so I decided that I'd head up to school for an hour to ...
Police are appealing for witnesses after a teenager was sexually assaulted in Yate. The incident occurred on Sunday 31st May 2009 at around 9.45pm. The victim, a 15-year-old girl, was walking on the footpath that runs along Westerleigh Road in the direction of Quedgeley. She was approached by a man who was riding a BMX bike. He indecently assaulted her and then rode off. Anyone who witnessed the incident or has any information which may help with the investigation is asked to contact police in Chipping Sodbury on 0845 456 7000 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
South Glos Council is proposing to merge Rodford Primary School with Kings Court School on Sundridge Park with effect from next year. This follows falling pupil numbers in both schools over the last few years. If the amalgamation goes ahead Rodford School's Barnwood Road site will close. Once formal notice is issued in September people will have six weeks to comment before the executive member for schools formally approves the proposal, but the merger is very likely to go ahead. The Gazette has more details on the schools merger.
The Evening Standard reports this evening that the Government has confirmed that the Equalities Bill will stop the BNP from preventing black people and jews from joining the BNP party. Is there a black person or a Jew that wants to join this racist party? If so, they need their head examining. More seriously, and on a more practical point, I wonder whether the Equalities Bill will take any action against state funded Church Schools that are allowed to discriminate against children of parents who refuse to practice Christianity? Somehow I doubt it. Faith schools will still be able to ...
There are free leaflets to download from the South Glos Council website on The Dramway, The Frome Valley Walkway and other walks throughout the area.
It's BBC Question Time day again (are you as excited as me?) and the Live Chat on this blog will start at 10:30pm.The panel will include newly appointed Secretary of State for Wales Peter Hain, Conservative shadow communities secretary Caroline Spelman, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne, joint secretary general of Unite Derek Simpson, and director of Global Vision Ruth Lea. You can also follow people's comments on Twitter via the #bbcqt hashtag (you can also follow me here on Twitter by the way - I did manage to multi-task it last week!). Liberal Democrat Voice also always have ...
on June 11, 2009 at 12:36 pm | Reply John Merry In all fairness Mole you ought to have added two points. Firstly the Lib Dems were given the figures in March and secondly you were supplied with details of every single transaction as were the evening news. I also asked the chair of the [...]
I'm trying to arrange a post redirection, and the Royal Mail provide a helpful on-line redirection service. So far, so good. However, if you stick the required postcode into their system, it gives an address without a street name. There is, helpfully, a telephone number to call to change the address, and they will change it within 24 hours. So, I call them and am rapidly lost in their automated call assignment system. Lengthy messages explain all the wonderful things that they might do for you (this is an 0845 number, so you're paying to listen to Sarah's dolcet tones), ...
Remember the Telegraph's hatchet job on Lib Dem MP Jo Swinson during their series of revelations about MPs' expenses? (Lib Dem blogger James Graham has followed-up the issue on his own Quaequam Blog! HERE). Well, on Monday evening, as billed here, I had the chance to put these points direct to the Daily Telegraph's assistant editor, Andrew Pierce, at a debate posing the question, A triumph for journalism? (You can watch the debate online here - worth watching in full, but the section focusing on Jo starts about 29 minutes in). The issues of dodgy Telegraph reporting - specifically in ...
I have written before about the death of Dennis O'Neill at a farm in Shropshire in January 1945, which was one of the reasons for the passing of the 1948 Children Act. In one post I pointed out the case led directly to Agatha Christie writing The Mousetrap and examined a parallel between the case and a book by my favourite writer as a child, Malcolm Saville. Writing in the Independent last month, Anna Picard suggested that the case would also have been in the minds of the first-night audience of Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes at Sadler's Wells in ...
A couple of pieces on here today have shown how the Welsh Lib Dems, and Kirsty in particular have shown Plaid in an embarrassing light. First, we had the story of them being part of a Government that spent £5million pounds hiring cars for senior civil servants. This came after Kirsty exposed the party's leader, Ieuan Wyn Jones, for failing to meet the target time for replying to correspondence in one in four cases. Then on Tuesday in the Chamber, she pressed him on what support was available for struggling businesses only for Ieuan to get his knickers/boxers/other things I'd ...
I listened to the 8:10am interview with Liam Byrne and Phillip Hammond this morning on the Radio 4 Today programme and I could hardly understand a word of what Liam Byrne was saying. He kept talking about "tough choices" and "difficult decisions" but as far as I could tell he didn't answer a single one of John Humphries questions, he just blethered on about Tory cuts whilst failing to acknowledge that Labour will on their own figures have to cut too. It is absolutely pathetic. Do politicians who do this, really think they are fooling anyone? They just come across ...
The other night I was having a conversation with Darrell and Mark on Twitter which started off being about Gordon Brown's statement on political reform which was expected the next day (and what a letdown that turned out to be) and then drifted off into a discussion about the merits of the Single Transferable Vote. Unusually for a Lib Dem, Darrell has reservations about adopting this system because of the loss of the constituency link. Mark said this didn't matter really because he viewed MPs' roles as legislative rather than pastoral - and he later blogged about it. It so ...
Cast your minds back three weeks, and Lib Dem Voice posed the question to our readers, Who do you think should be the next Speaker? Over 1,200 of you voted, and (unsurprisingly) your preferences split many ways - but it was renegade Labour MP Frank Field who topped our poll, with just shy of one-in-five votes. The four mooted Lib Dem candidates for Speaker - Ming Campbell, Alan Beith, Vince Cable and Norman Baker - together received 41% of the total vote. To date, only Sir Alan and Sir Menzies have confirmed their intentions to stand, today publishing their 'manifestos' ...
Gwynedd Council has become the latest Welsh Local Authority to predict massive cuts in its budget over the next three years. They have said that they are considering how to save £16m over that period. The Welsh Local Government Association have said that all Councils will have to chop tens of millions of pounds from their budgets and that further cuts may be necessary in the longer term. All of this is inevitable of course given the way that the UK Government used public cash to prop up the banks and to bale out the economy. They are cutting the ...
Could it mean they have some sort of immunity from a previous encouter with a similar virus 55 to 60 years ago? Could it mean that some kind of immunisation could be developed from older people who are resistant to swine flu, which could help younger people? Is swine flu no more dangerous than the usual types of flu anyway, since most common-or-garden nameless kinds of flu kill a small percentage of the people who catch them? (An aunt of mine died of flu.) Is it because it has been given a name that it seems worse or does it ...
A number of people have commented how it is that despite the exposure of a great deal of abuse of the allowances system by many MPs it is only those lower down the hierarchy who are being deselected or punished by the respective party's 'star chambers'. So how will David Cameron react to the latest revelations about his Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne? This morning's Times reports that Mr. Osborne "flipped" the designation of his official second home from his London residence to his constituency home after taking out a £450,000 mortgage on the property. They say that the Shadow Chancellor ...
According to the Telegraph, this hiiiilarious (sigh) video is a Youtube hit. At time of writing, Youtube reports the video has received 828 views. How is that a hit? Adding subtitles to Downfall was funny the first time. I think the first iteration of this idea I saw referred to Hitler being removed from time-wasting online game iSketch, posted to b3ta links in September 2007 (now removed from Youtube due to copyright). It was funny then. Since then at least 30 versions have been created. It is no longer funny. Now, nearly 2 years on, this particular iteration of a ...
Once again this week we have been forced to ask ourselves whether Ieuan Wyn Jones is in fact the weakest of the four Plaid Cymru Government Ministers? Is he up to the job he has taken on? Avid readers of this blog (and believe it or not your numbers are growing) will recall previous articles about the Deputy First Minister's aversion to scrutiny and in particular his failure to deliver a timely and efficient service to Welsh business and to Assembly Members. Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Kirsty Williams revealed last month that Welsh government statistics revealed in a Freedom of ...
From today's Manchester Evening News: Council bosses' £68,000 expenses bill Neal Keeling June 11, 2009 COUNCIL officials ran up a bill of nearly £70,000 on an expense account - for claims including first class rail travel, luxury hotels, meals in top restaurants - and 80 TOY MEN. Eighteen top officers and two leading councillors at Salford town hall charged £68,768 [...]
Over at The Times, the two Lib Dem candidates for the position of Speaker of the House of Commons - Sir Menzies Campbell and Sir Alan Beith - set out their manifestos, stating what reforming credentials they would bring to this most historic of offices. Excerpts below: Ming Campbell: What is needed is a Speaker who imposes their authority on the House of Commons, not their politics; a Speaker who will stand up for all MPs and when necessary stand up against the Government of the day; a Speaker who will not be intimidated. The primary purpose of the House ...
Everyone reading this more or less knows my position when it comes to the middle east conflict and the fact that I support the rights of the Palestinian people over the "so called infringed" rights of the Israeli's all you need to do to find out more about what I think of Israel is to search the word "Israel" on this blog. Putting that aside yesterday I was watching Hardtalk(for the first time ever) and noticed that the BBC presenter quoted a Israeli who called Barack Obama a "political terrorist" and said that he emphasised "Hussein" more over "Barack". First ...
There has been much debate in recent weeks about the political and constitutional change that Britain needs. But there's one key reform that has, too often, been overlooked. If we are going to make our leaders and representatives more accountable to those they serve. If we are serious about reconnecting people with politics, we must have open government. There can surely be no better proof than the debacle over MPs' expenses. Today, the outgoing information commissioner, Richard Thomas, called the row a "coming of age" for openness. He also said that the leak of MPs' details to the Daily Telegraph, ...
What better way to while away those boring hours waiting for another Labour MP to announce their resignation than the Weymouth Relief Road blog. In case you were in any doubt as to how important this website is then Dorset County Council proudly devote the biggest share of their home page to this news, with [...]
It amused me highly to see Gordon Brown having to have a view on the £80 million transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United to Real Madrid. What are we to think of a Prime Minister who can express a clear view on this but not on electoral reform? Having said that; Gerry Sutcliffe is [...]
Following the public enquiry, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has given the green light to plans by Surrey County Cricket Club and Arora International Hotels for the demolition of the Lock, Laker and Peter May stands and the creation of an additional 1,830 seats (the precise number of seats was confirmed at the public enquiry) and a hotel.Oval's local Lib Dem Councillors supported local residents over their concerns regarding the loss of daylight, extra noise, traffic and disturbance, we wrote to the enquiry about them and Councillor Andrew Sawdon raised these and other concerns at the ...
The NUS seems to have accepted the principle that the beneficiaries of an education - high earning graduates - should pay for it. To this end they propose a graduate tax. This is a step forward compared to their previous insistence (alongside the Liberal Democrats) that the general tax payer should fund it, whether or not they benefited from an expensive university education. But it has a long way to go before it looks like an ideal system. Professor Nick Barr, who played a big role in designing the current system, has eloquently criticised the graduate tax before. The NUS ...
I asked a trivia question the other day: What is the link between the Daily Mail Television review page and Susan Boyle? The answer is that Herbert Kretzmer, who was the daily television critic of the Daily Mail for eight years, wrote the lyrics for the song Dream a Dream, which Susan Boyle sang, beautifully, twice on Britain's Got Talent.
As most will have heard the Prime Minister has gone through something of a transistion with his Cabinet appointments. However, Cabinet reshuffles will not address the deeper problem in British politics. This problem is voter disaffection with the entire political system. MPs' expenses have merely brought this issue to a head. It has provided much needed impetus for reformers, allowing the discussion of issues - like reforming the Lords, and introducing PR - some serious air time. The Prime Minister's problem is that a reshuffle has all the effect of an extra coat of paint to cover the cracks in ...
Here's an interesting article from journalism.co.uk on the accuracy, or otherwise, of some of the Telegraph expensegate claims, which includes copious quotes from the LDV team. I am pleased to see that Andrew Brown has received a libel pay-out from Scotland on Sunday, which he is donating to a research fund in his niece's name. I was very sad that Andrew Brown was dragged into the expenses business. He is not a politician and didn't deserve such treatment.
Last Sunday it was a delight to enjoy a post election bit of culture at the Abbey Gardens in Culross. In glorious sunshine we enjoyed The Marriage of Figaro in the garden of Charles Bruce's home as part of the Culross Festival. The festival organisers deserve plaudits for the quality of this annual festival.
As promised below. For clarity, let me state again that these are the five areas where the highest LD vote share was recorded - during the European Parliament election last week. In first place, put your hands together for ... South Lakeland! The results in full: South Lakeland (36.83 per cent) Shetland Islands (33.80 per cent) Orkney Islands (31.77 per cent) Richmond Upon Thames (30.79 per cent) Kingston upon Thames (28.01 per cent) Strangely, there's a water theme to all five. Anyway, psephogeekism over, for now.
Tech Crunch has reported that Facebook are going to allow users to customise their URL's over this weekend and from 6:00 am Saturday UK Time users of the site from the UK will be able to go to the site and change their URL's to a personalised one. I am going to customise mine but if someone beats me to getting what I want I shall personally hunt that person down and give them the most abuse possible in a facebook message. So be warned anyone reading this who is thinking of doing something stupid! Something to put on the ...
Over the years' the Oxford University Conservative Association has had quite a number of bad headlines. Racist and sexist, indulging in alleged electoral malpractice. Their public image has been of badly behaved and boorish Hooray Henrys - a sort of provisional wing of the Bullingdon Club. Over the years, they have. like Cameron, sought for present [...]
Kind of. By this I mean the five areas where the lowest LD vote share was recorded - during the European Parliament election last week. Drum roll, please. Thank you. And here they are: North Lanarkshire (4.56 per cent) Rhondda (4.57 per cent) Barking and Dagenham (4.61 per cent) Western Isles (4.71 per cent) Thurrock (5.23 per cent) Taa-daa! What fun. And unless you accuse us of negativity, coming up in 20 minutes are the Top 5 Highest areas for Lib Dem share of the vote. Can you guess where they are?
Research carried out the Welsh Liberal Democrat leader, Kirsty Williams has revealed that the Welsh Government spent £5 million over the last five years on hire cars for civil servant use. The Welsh government has had a vehicle hire contract with Europcar UK Ltd for the past 5 years and it has been available for use by Welsh government staff. Yearly spend on Europcar hire: 2004 £958,708 2005 £990,699 2006 £924,123 2007 £1,188,367 2008 £1,040,613 Total £5,102,510 Commenting, Kirsty said: "At a time when Welsh businesses and the people of Wales have to really tighten their belts, this Labour-Plaid government ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7GfOMVajwE
Uzupis is the artistic quarter in Vilnius, which calls itself an independent republic. National Day April the first. The Constitution lays out a series of rights and reading these are a welcome distraction into humanity after our forced attention to the hate files if the BNP over here. And do enjoy this video clip if you can... Some of the articles look rather liberal actually. Constitution Everyone has the right to live by the River Vilnelė, while the River Vilnelė has the right to flow by everyone. Everyone has the right to hot water, heating in winter and a tiled ...
Neal Keeling June 11, 2009 COUNCIL officials ran up a bill of nearly £70,000 on an expense account – for claims including first class rail travel, luxury hotels, meals in top restaurants – and 80 TOY MEN. Eighteen top officers and two leading councillors at Salford town hall charged £68,768 over the course of a year, we [...]
Thu 11th
11:44
I asked readers to submit points they would like to raise our First brave man is Mr B. any comments?
Parental responsibility and how far should we hold the parents responsible for the actions of their children and are more or less fines etc needed? Smoking, should it be banned completely on moral and health grounds (possibly leading on to debates on the legalisation of cannabis etc) Obesity, should some food retailers be forced by legislation to [...]
Over at the Guardian website, there's a 16-minute video conversation between Nick Clegg and political commentator Polly Toynbee. You can watch it in full here.
I'm tempted to endure the pain that will surely follow from taking part in the annual Scottish Coal Carrying Championships in Kelty later this month. I'm tempted as I hear that my good friend and Labour Councillor Willie Sullivan is training for the event. Avid followers of the race will know that I was runner up in 2003 and third in 2006. So I've got a reputation to defend. We've just started beating Labour in West Fife and I'd rather that didn't change even if it means carrying a hundred weight (56kilos) for 1 km along Kelty Main Street again. ...
It's well worth watching this interview with Nick Clegg.
After three years in the Commons you would think I would have learnt not to get too excited about reports of radical reform proposals from this Government. This week we had the prospect of electoral reform. Perhaps, just maybe, at last, a death bed conversion - but no just a promise to think about it from our conservative, defender of the establishment PM. The Tories and Labour were united for a brief paragraph. United in condemnation of change. Determined to defend their in built advantage. I suppose I shouldn't criticise them for defending a system that has padlocked their grip ...
The House of Commons behaves disgracefully sometimes. I usually watch PMQs on the TV but I had to listen to it on the radio yesterday. It was a bit difficult sometimes to make out what Brown and Cameron were saying due to the barracking and shouting and a couple of times when it got too bad the Speaker intervened to stop it. However when Nick Clegg was trying to speak there was very loud barracking and also people clearly having very loud conversations which were picked up and transmitted by the microphones. Perhaps it is easier to tune this stuff ...
Over the last few weeks it's all been about the County Council elections, now things have moved back to focus on West Lindsey District Council.Cllr Jackie Brockway has announced she's resigning from her seat as Saxibly councillor. A by-election will be called shortly and the people of the district will have the chance to show their dissatisfaction at the Tory administration's policies.
Nick Clegg is in an 11 June video interview conducted by Polly Toynbee. From the body language Nick is in combatitive form. The comments from 'readers' talk about a real exchange of views and a breath of fresh air. Of course no subtitles enabled on this Guardian video and no sight of a transcript so I await LibDem comments giving some idea of the content. As ever new multi-media is sometimes unkind to deaf people. I do know one of Polly's questions was along the lines of "Isn't your problem that you are too right wing?".
Shamelessly stealing {[info] - personal} lizw's marvellous idea, I present a poll: View Poll: Where Do you Blog? You'll need to log in to vote. If you're not on DW, the openID log in page is here. This blog is proudly sponsored by
At Prime Minister's Questions this week, David Cameron hammered Gordon Brown over the reports that, faced with an almost certain general election defeat, Labour is finally ready to introduce some form of proportional representation into the electoral system. Of course, the Conservatives are perfectly within their rights to complain that this seems like a rather cynical move. It's been over 10 years since the Jenkins Commission recommended reform of the voting system to the AV+ System for Westminster, and we haven't heard a sniff of it since. The reason? Blatant self-interest by a sitting Labour government who surprised themselves with ...
Widdecombe Unfair to stand for speaker.
Photo by Sabine J Hutchinson http://www.virtual-shropshire.co.uk On Wedndesday the Guardian included a circular route based on this Shropshire stone circle in its guided walks supplement. The paper chose a remarkably strenuous route, including an ascent of Corndon Hill, and nowhere do they mention the possibility of plummeting down an abandoned mineshaft. And trust the Guardian to say the Mitchell's Fold is in Powys when it is, in fact, in England and Shropshire. Still, enjoy.
Last night's Public Affairs Cymru quiz on devolution turned out to be a bit of a disaster for the Welsh Liberal Democrat Team. Despite leading into the final round they ended up sixth, behind the winning BBC journalists, the Tories (who were second) and the fourth placed Plaid Cymru team. Both Labour and UKIP failed to enter the fray. The Welsh Liberal Democrats were optimistic of doing well after drafting Cardiff Councillor, Gareth Aubrey onto their team. Gareth was once credited with single handedly winning University Challenge for his Alma Mater but the controversial 37 part answer to the final ...
I am off on my travels again - you will never guess which county I am visiting. Judging by past form, it is entirely possible that I shall find a wayside computer and do some blogging. But if even if I don't, I have arranged for precious things to appear on the blog while I am away. Just don't expect topical political comment.
Following my blog yesterday, I've spent an unpleasant half hour reading the Constitution of the BNP, which can be found on their website. The leaflets portray them as kindly family-orientated people. On the website, the darker side is revealed, but you have to read the Constitution to see what really drives them. First, their basic principles include this: The...
I wrote to Sir Ming Campbell the other day to ask him to put his name forward for Speaker and he said he would and now according to a blog post by Iain Dale he has put his name forward. In the blog post Iain argues that Labour MP's wouldn't vote him but I think differently. Many Labour MP's were angry with Speaker Martin so they asked him to go one being my very own Pendle MP Gordon Prentice putting this argument into light when looking at this whole matter and it starts becoming clear that Labour MP's do not ...
The Bath Chronicle has exposed a potentially damaging story relating to complaints that senior councillors tried to manipulate planning decisions at a recent planning meeting. to read the full story follow this link
Across the Great Britain the Conservatives topped the poll with 27.7%, UKIP were second with 16.5%, Labour third with 15.7%, the Liberal Democrats fourth with 13.7%, the Greens fifth with 8.6%, the BNP sixth with 6.2%, the SNP had 2.1%, Plaid Cymru 0.8% and other 8.5%. This resulted in the Conservatives having 25 MEPs UKIP and Labour having 13 each, the Liberal Democrats 11, the Greens, BNP and the SNP 2 each and Plaid Cymru 1.
1. Andrew Lansley assumes the role of shadow chancellor and announces their spending cut plans. 10% cuts on everything except for the NHS, schools and international development. That's a lot! 10% on defence, for example? I hear Tory retired colonels all over their country colectively spitting out their cornflakes! 2. There are signs we are moving or have moved out of recession. (It's the economy, stupid). 3. The betting is that the Tories will get the last person they want as Speaker - their very own bête noire John Bercow. At this rate, Labour will win the next election. OK ...
If you have a DW account as well as an LJ, it would help me if you would pop over to DW and fill in this poll: View poll: DW/LJ ETA:If you don't have a DW account, there's no need to respond - I won't be changing the filters you're on in that case. If you have accounts on both services, it would be helpful to me if you would fill in the poll, even if you're actually only using the LJ account at the moment. Thank you.</b>
Thu 11th
09:07John Healey forced to defend Labour housing policy in first Commons debate, what housing policy?
Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com in Housing Wednesday 10th June 2009 – 9:15am John Healey forced to defend Labour housing policy in first Commons debate New Housing Minister John Healey was forced to defend the Government's £285 million Mortgage Rescue Scheme during his first Commons debate. His Conservative counterpart Grant Shapps attacked the flagship scheme, which he [...]
Thu 11th
09:03I wonder if she will still have time for the residents? could make life easy for candidates leading ...
Worsley MP made Deputy Leader of Commons <!–Last Updated – 11th June 2009 at 12:33 AM –> by Tom Rodgers Worsley MP Barbara Keeley has been appointed by the Prime Minister to be the Deputy Leader of the House of Commons. The new role means Barbara will be supporting the Leader of the House, Harriet Harman, in [...]
Don't forget, deadline for objections is June 24th. I sent mine in yesterday and will post copy on this blog shortly
Thu 11th
09:0011 charged after dawn drugs raid,, One for the good Guys well done keep this scum of our streets.
Neal Keeling June 10, 2009 ELEVEN people have been charged following drugs raids in Salford. Fifteen addresses were raided at dawn in Eccles, Winton, and Manchester. Operation Merton followed months of undercover work by officers targeting drug dealers supplying Salford and Manchester. The following have been charged with supplying class A drugs and were remanded in custody to [...]
I have council later today but instead of travelling home last night, I am heading home this morning. Last night was Greg Simpson's leaving do (he was Director of Policy at Lib Dems). He is off to do a high powered job at the Ministry of Defence. Anyway, the leaving do kept me in London overnight. Coming up at council will be a motion to be moved by me calling on National Express to drop its new
What to Brown's proposed reforms of our political system amount to? MPs' expenses was the easy bit. Of course Gordon, along with the other leaders, are going to support greater openness along with an independent body to run the whole thing - they could hardly do otherwise. Next Brown proposed a written code of conduct for MPs, with offences and sanctions. Another sensible idea and one that Brown seems keen to see on the statute books quickly (before the summer recess, he suggests). Then we have a subtle movement of power from the Executive to MPs: nothing huge, but some ...
Ah, another day, another daily view. Suddenly in the blink of an eye, polling day is a whole week behind us. Lives are being lived, new councillors swearing the oath of office and new groups working out how to work with each other in future. Two big stories And unlike m'colleague Alix who could trumpet an end to expenses stories, sadly today they're back with a vengeance, as the Telegraph digs into Shahid Malik. But never fear - "the recession has ended" ! The Independent is so confident of its analysis that it feels the need to put the headline ...
Normally spelling the name of your party's leader wrong on a leaflet would be enough to get it filed in the "things not to do" pile, but the Scottish Labour Party managed another mistake in a recent leaflet that rather put the misspelling in the shade: Labour has been ridiculed for sending out campaign leaflets urging people to vote for the party in a local election in which it is not standing. The name of Scottish leader Iain Gray is also misspelled in the pamphlet. The mistake came about after the party noticed its candidate in Angus Council's Monifieth and ...
The Bath Chronicle has exposed a potentially damaging story relating to complaints that senior councillors tried to manipulate planning decisions at a recent planning meeting. to read the full story follow this link
As regular readers of www.dundeewestend.com will be aware, I have been actively involved in the campaign to progress local television provision across Scotland, something that becomes possible because of the digital switchover. See more at www.fifetaysidetv.com. Dr Dave Rushton of the Institute of Local Television (on behalf the Scottish Local TV Federation) has recently drawn to my attention the findings of two public surveys conducted in the Spring indicating the character and extent of interest in receiving local TV from Scotland. The surveys - one in the south of Scotland, the other Scotland-wide - show strong support from the public ...
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of meeting some of the folk from Jericho House, who are kindly upgrading the play area in Victoria Park, giving the railings, seating and play equipment a much-needed fresh coat of paint. This initiative, with the support of West End Community Council, has been organised by Jericho House and the Leisure and Communities Department. My photo (above) shows some of the folk at the play area.
Today looks very much like yesterday, which is not on the whole a recommendation. # You know you're past it when you see the headline 'Pop star Stevens robbed at home' and assume it means Shakin' Stevens. http://bit.ly/JTKAh # Here's a fun game: hunting for perfectly-camouflaged tortoises in torrential rain to check they're somewhere sheltered that isn't flooding. #
The point of Politics is not just to say what a minority of people are thinking – it's to have a coherent view of the world and a plan of when things can be done. Should what you want to do be radically different to what's feasible then that should be spelt out `vote for [...]
