The first pictures of the long-awaited plans for Birmingham's Eastside Park have been revealed by the Birmingham Post. The paper describes the park as "a mile-long, shaped like a hockey stick" and "it will be divided into seven themed segments with a water feature and walkway running throughout linking them all." Looks good to me. The Council-funded project will go before the Cabinet in September and if approved will provide a centrepiece for the proposed Digital District. Coun Timothy Huxtable has suggested a competition to find a suitable name. I'd go for anything that isn't "Eastside Park"! Perhaps something associated ...
It is the session for AGMs. To be honest, I don't think there is a particular session, they just seem to happen all year round. Well it was the turn of the Greater London North East Scouts to hold their AGM this evening. Dad went along as Deputy Mayor, Untie Eve acted as his consort.I was pleased to say that most of the evening was used to present awards. Some Scout districts have a poor
This Friday is my last day at Cowley St. I am leaving for the Good Life in Gateshead! Literally! My department is being reorganised and I was offered redundancy or interview for one of the new jobs that will be created. The reorganisation is the result of the Bones Review. Lib Dems will know what that is - in a nutshell, a reformed structure for the party centrally that is designed to deal with
I may have missed something. I don't watch or listen to every news broadcast, but what has happened to the news I care about - Lib Dems won't replace Trident ? The Today programme had more important news - carrots prevent cancer better if not chopped up - so no room for us. Liberal leaders (and Nick Clegg is no exception) are always accused of not doing enough, not making an impact. With the
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At today's regional launch of the Digital Britain report, Lib Dem group leader (and Deputy Leader of the City Council!) Cllr Paul Tilsley revealed Birmingham will create a "Digital District" spanning the Digbeth / Eastside part of the city centre. He said, "Birmingham will create a 'Digital District' that brings together the innovative, learning and creative sectors enabled through a next generation hi-speed broadband infrastructure. Spanning several hundred acres from the creative industries in Digbeth, our science and technology sectors at Birmingham Science Park and our world class developments at Eastside, it will provide an exciting environment for our creative ...
Kitty Usher, Labour MP for Burnley has resigned from her new role as treasury minister, after further questions were raised about her expenses. Being born in Burnley and brought up in neighbouring constituency Pendle, i take great interst in the careers of the Burnley and Pendle MPs . I quite enjoyed my stay in Burnley, when i went last, for the victory parade (Burnley playing Premier League football) and unlike previous MP Peter Pike i have to say that Kitty was not very popular. The local Wellington pub was quite pleasant opposite the football ground. That is where i met ...
In February, I reported the fact that the Government had underspent £130m of digital TV switchover money that was destined for the over-75s. The money was supposed to offer financial and technical assistance for set-top boxes, to ensure that the vulnerable were able to continue to watch free-to-air TV channels. The fund has now built up to a figure of around £200m and OfCom has decided, as part of the Digital Britain report, that the money can be used to pay for the Government's much trumpeted universal Broadband pledge. £200m, it seems, is not enough - so a "landline tax" ...
The straw has landed. The camel's back is broken. I have tendered my resignation. I wish Sunny all the best, and hope the site continues to be successful, but I can no longer waste the mental energy required to beat my head against the brick wall of the various issues I have with the site. And yes, before anyone asks, the straw was the bitter, nasty, juvenile, ill-conceived and factually inaccurate piece posted by Rupert Read today. I suggest scrolling down to the comment by {[info - personal]} matgb (#39) if you're going to actually go and look at the ...
Many thanks to Paul Walter at Liberal Burblings for pointing us to the British Pathe website. Paul has flagged up several videos of Liberal interest. Here is another: a speech by Sir Archibald Sinclair from the 1945 election campaign.
The drop in consultation on Countryside and Green Spaces was held for Coucnillors in Stockton tonight, and very good it was too. Interesting displays, with keen officers to explain and deal with queries. I thought I knew about all the special wildlife features in my ward but found out about a grass verge tonight! Waiting for more details. One of the things I asked for is more guided walks in...
A visit to the hospital this morning confirmed that the radial knuckle (elbow) is mended nicely but there's some inflammation of the tendons so the arm is still in need of a little tender loving care! Gentle stretching exercise is prescribed so if you see my arm waving in the air I am definitely waving not drowning.A leaflet arrived through the letter box today about parking in Yarm. It's a
So Gordon Brown has: -held a confidential 'star chamber' within the Labour Party which has seen several Labour MPs barred from re-standing. David Cameron has said much, with his trademark furrowed brow and cross voice but he has done very little by way of disciplining his MPs, who make up the great majority of miscreants in the whole expenses farrago. [Can we pause a moment to enjoy the word 'farrago'? I'm quite pleased with that. 'Farrago'.] -hinted at electoral reform, thus warming the hearts of Lib Dem inclined voters. Now most of us would rather sleep with a rattlesnake than ...
Listening to the news each day it is sometimes easy to become immune to what is going on in the world. Sadly, I believe we call it compassion fatigue. Nationally, people have shown how appalled they are with the MPs expenses scandal and the tide seems to be turning now with a real commitment to change at Westminster. But sometimes you have to stop and take note of people's bravery in the world of politics. People often remember where they were when Kennedy died - and I certainly remember where I was 20 years ago when the troops opened fire ...
I'm trying not to think about all the political trauma off the track in F1. In less than 48 hours, the sport I've loved all my life could be effectively destroyed by Max Mosley, the guy who makes the rules and whose hostile, dogmatic and draconian approach has got the sport looking oblivion in the face. I needed a bit of fun to distract me and this did the trick nicely. Brawn GP have come from the arse end of nowhere to unprecedented success for a new Formula One team, with Jenson Button winning 6 out of the first 7 ...
Are you one of those mortgage payers fortunate enough to be on the Standard Variable Rate and currently enjoying repayments at record low levels? If so, you are probably wondering whether to fix your mortgage and when to do so? The answer to that question mainly depends on whether you believe in the Treasury's inflation forecasts for the next few years, which are currently predicting: ..................CPI.............RPI (excludes housing costs) 2009............1.6.............-1.3 2010............1.5.............1.7 2011............1.5.............2.3 2012............1.8.............2.9 2013............2.0.............2.5 If the Treasury is right, or if we move towards a period of deflation as some people suggest, you'd be better off sticking to the Variable ...
Well Turned up for one but missed the other at the Swinton Golf Club, bit of luck my fellow ward councillor would have picked that one up. It's hard even with three of us on the go. We picked up a lot of problems tonight but one that came up was identical to Cllr Cook's findings [...]
The BBC reports tonight: Treasury minister Kitty Ussher has quit the government after further questions were raised about her expenses.Ms Ussher took the step amid reports she flipped the designation of her second home shortly before selling it in 2007, avoiding capital gains tax.Ms Ussher denied she did anything wrong and said she was stepping aside to prevent the government embarrassment.Later. There is more on the Daily Telegraph site.
As I blogged about earlier today about Tory MP's receiving a letter attacking Cameron and Osborne but my friend and blogger Shane Greer seems to think its Labour who might be behind this and I am afraid to say I disagree. First of all Labour might be a bunch of dirty campaigners with the whole McBride and Draper thing but they are not devils and they have some decency. Personally I believe that Shane needs to meet his fellow Tories from the North before he starts pointing fingers as the Tory party are full of dirty campaigners as many will ...
While I was away Stephen Tall at Liberal Democrat Voice tagged me for a meme on my five favourite political dramas. My television viewing has been uneven over the years- I did not even own a set for several years in the 1990s - but here are my five choices in no particular order. You will see that I have interpreted "political drama" liberally. Life on Mars My most recent choice. It was telling that despite the sympathetic role given to John Simm it was Philip Glenister's Gene Hunt who emerged as the popular hero. Could this be a recognition ...
Welcome to this latest instalment of our new LDV feature rounding up some of the best/worst/most curious political videos doing the rounds. How could I not start with David 'Veer are yur papeers?' Cameron's indulgence in a bit of outdated xeno-stereotyping. I find it hard to get worked-up by it – and it certainly doesn't qualify as racist. It's just not very Prime Ministerial, is it? Speaking of not very Prime Ministerial, let's remind ourselves of one of the prime reasons the Tories are so relieved to have Mr Cameron as their leader: Iain Duncan Smith, here in full oratorical ...
Stephen Tall was bemoaning the paucity of videoes of Jeremy Thorpe on the web. This made me recall the excellent British Pathe News site which has loads of old films of Thorpe plus other gems from the past: Jeremy Thorpe becomes new Liberal party leader 1970 Thorpe interview shots (mute) 1968 Thorpe's (first) wedding Thorpe at a 1967 dinner for Kosygin, Russian Foreign Minister Thorpe On a 1969 Oxfam walk and this gem: Miss Laura Bonham-Carter marries Mr Joseph Grimond and these silent films: Gladstone's funeral Asquith arriving in Newcastle and Miss Asquith marries Prince Bibesco "The worst is over" ...
I had a wonderful evening in Liverpool yesterday. Many thanks to my old friend Councillor Colin Eldridge and his superb team for welcoming me into the bosum of Wavertree LibDems for some targetted letter delivery. All the streets where we delivered looked, to me, as though they were part of the set of "Bread" - but I apologise for that somewhat patronising remark from a soft snobby southerner. Liverpool is a great city and it is marvellous to see the LibDems doing such great work there. The nerve centre of the HQ of Wavertree LibDems has many historical reverberations, being ...
Having seen and read the reports and highlights from today's PMQs and read a fair few blog posts about it, I just wonder what Gordon Brown think he sounds like when he relentlessly drivels on about Tory cuts vs Labour investment insisting that Labour will increase spending in real terms in the next few years. It is so manifestly untrue that Tom Bradby ITV's political editor as good as said so on the report tonight. I am sure a few years ago that political editors did not feel that they could basically state that the Prime Minister of the day ...
We hear a lot about Eurosceptics and a fair bit about Europhiles but what of us Euroreformers? Speaking as one I feel pretty much left out in the cold. I am particularly miffed that the Lib Dems, the one party that ought to adopt this position, mostly ignore it (despite a large minority of Euroreformers within the Party). By Euroreformers I mean those of us who support the European Project but believe that it's lost its way; that the EU needs a major rethink and restructuring to make it fit for purpose and democratically accountable to the peoples of Europe. ...
Nick Clegg's announcement about Trident today is spot on. The world has changed since the height of the cold war. No longer do we need a full blooded Trident system that covers all eventualities no matter how unlikely those eventualities may be. We need a comprehensive defence system that deals with foreseeable risks. To dole out for a hyper expensive Trident system when the public finances are in a mess and our troops on the ground are in desperate need of more helicopters and the right kit would not be right. Trident fan Tory MP Julian Lewis and I engaged ...
{BBC GONE} Plans to break the BBC's monopoly on the licence fee for the first time could help fund a new system of local and regional news on ITV, and support children's programmes (Channel 4?), the government revealed in yesterday's Digital Britain report. Good or bad? Good that the first slice off the sacred cow's hide has been taken at last. Bad if this stops or even slows the more radical overhaul of UK broadcasting. I worked in TV for twenty years and am dismayed with the ever-increasing stranglehold on news that the BSKYB/BBC (a tax exile and a government ...
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This is a plug for a concert this Saturday - and I'm singing in it. Don't worry, you won't be able to hear my voice above the other 100 or so singers! The programme is quite beautiful: Haydn: Nelson Mass - incredibly cheerful, with familiar themes that Haydn re-used in The Creation Fauré: Requiem - one of my favourite pieces of all. I want to die listening to it....
Very interesting piece over at The Wardman Wire which has been re-posted from the Ekkelsia website. It looks are the role political independents have to play in reviving public trust in politics. I am quite forthright on my view on independents but I think broadly speaking they fall into two categories; those genuine independents who coalesce around [...]
Lord (Matthew) Oakeshott, the Lib Dems' treasury spoeksman in the House of Lords, has been busy in recent weeks – busy compiling figures from Parliamentary answers on the level of "non-consolidated performance pay" (bonuses to you and me) shared between 2,600 of the most senior officials working in Whitehall. And here's what he's found: senior civil servants were awarded "bonuses" totalling £26 million last year; £1.21 million was paid out to 141 senior officials in the Department for Business – three quarters of the total – an average of £8,582 each officials at the Department of Health received a total ...
From yesterday's Western Morning News: THE two-year-old son of Cornwall MP Matthew Taylor was admitted to hospital yesterday after doctors found a tumour on his spine. Arthur Taylor, son of the Truro and St Austell Lib-Dem MP, is in London's Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital after being admitted for specialist investigation and treatment. Last week, the youngster was admitted as an emergency to St Thomas's Hospital in London where a scan revealed the tumour at the base of his spine. Mr Taylor said his son was able to spend "a happy and comfortable weekend at home with the family" before ...
In the bear pit that is Prime Minister's Questions, there was a brief moment of respite from the usual mutual slanging and pantomime atmosphere today when Dunfermlne and West Fife MP Willie Rennie asked for a meeting with Gordon Brown to discuss the problems in obtaining visas for children from the north of Ukraine to come to Britain for recuperative holidays. The full exchange is printed below: "Willie Rennie (Dunfermline and West Fife) (LD): Will the Prime Minister join me in commending the work of the Chernobyl children's charities, which bring thousands of children over from Belarus every year for ...
A brilliant suggestion has been made to solve the problems of MPs' second homes. I think it came from someone reading the BBC website. The Olympic village will have no purpose after the 2012 Olympics and the drive to persuade someone to take them on as social housing units is faltering. The answer is therefore blindingly obvious: some of these complexes should be dedicated to housing MPs and possibly even providing for their often abysmally paid staff. Transport links could be improved to get them to Parliament. If any MP demurs, let them buy their own second home using their ...
Costigan Quist has an interesting post about the Digital Britain report from yesterday. In it he argues that the 50p monthly tax on every phone line in the country that is proposed is effectively a poll tax. I agree with this. It is not based on ability to pay and is simply levied on every single phone line. This money will then be used to pay for broadband to be extended to hard to reach parts of the country. I guess when they drafted this proposal they thought that the amounts involved are so low that it doesn't really matter. ...
The BBC is reporting, as I have speculated here on several occasions in the last few days, that Jim Devine, recently deselected MP for Livingston, is threatening to stand down immediately and force the second by-election of this Parliament in Livingston. He's apparently feeling devastated by his treatment by the authorities, but, to be honest, he hasn't yet offered a plausible and consistent explanation of his claims for public money. I wonder if the NEC sub-Committee will have to think again if the Police investigation Devine invited on his claims leads to nothing - there is always that option, although ...
A baker in Cornwall has come up with the idea of a Marmite Pasty. Surely a step too far. Warren's Bakery, based in West Cornwall, has branches across the South West. They are producing a steak and marmite version as well as a cheese and marmite. I have to admit, I am no purist when it comes to pasty flavourings. I know that there are many who believe that the only ingredients in a pasty filling should be skirt beef, potatoes, onion, swede, salt and pepper. There are also those who say that no pasty is worth anything if it ...
The House of Commons is due to publish details of MPs expenses tomorrow which will include claims since 2004. You will be able to view this publication at www.parliament.uk I have attached a table below that outlines my own parliamentary expenditure for the financial year 2008-2009. As ever, if any of my constituents wish to discuss this matter with me feel free to get in touch. {allowances-table1} * IEP - Incidental Expenses Provision - Running of Constituency and Parliamentary offices. ** ACA - Additional Costs Allowance. Commonly known as "Second Home Allowance"
I am normally a great fan of Assembly Committee reports however the one published this morning on the Welsh newspaper industry has taken a wrong turn up a cul-de-sac in my view. The all-party committee has attacked councils who use taxpayers money to produce their own newspapers. They say it is not an appropriate use of public funds and may undermine local commercial newspapers especially as council papers take advertising revenue off them. What nonsense. I am not surprised that newspaper editors and journlists themselves may have given evidence to the committee to this effect, they after all have an ...
by Tom Rodgers, originally posted over at Salford Online As part of its Digital Britain report, the government is to launch an investigation into free council newsletters including John Merry's baby, Life in Salford, to discover the effect they are having on the local press. The report said it would be "against the public interest" for local papers to be rendered commercially unviable by the flight of paid-for advertising to local authority publications. The local spending watchdog The Audit Commission will carry out the inquiry to work out whether "restraints should be placed on local authority activity in this field." ...
I am someone who loves blogging about blogging as you will be able to tell from all the blog posts that I have written about the art of blogging on this blog but this is yet another blog about blogging but its more close to home. With UK political blogs now growing and Political Betting being the top blog what is the future of the site is what I want to discuss in this blog? Political Betting is a site that has millions of page views every month and they need to move on a little more and make the ...
Nickers seems to have hit the bullseye with his handbrake turn on Trident. In Oxfordshire we were hit rather hard by the Green vote locally, riding on the back of their success in the Euros. Nickers' decision to make nuclear weapons an issue could be just the headline we need to draw some of those votes over to us. It might also draw out some reluctant Labour voters from their Brown-induced torpor and deliver us support from that direction. Nickers suffers from a lack of a 'usp' but he is right on the nail with his ideas and strategy. My ...
It's been a while and they have had exams so I've let them off. But the exams are over and later on today I'll be having drinks with two of them and the third will be joining after that most likely (as drinks are pre-LYS meeting). So I'll be giving the LYS bloggers a kick up the mousemat to get blogging again. So Ruaraidh, Kieran and Callum you have been warned.
A new Poll out today reveals that Labour are the least honest of all th Parties on their spending plans. If you want to see the full details of the Poll follow the link HERE
I snuck in at number nine on the order paper to quiz the PM on Chernobyl children. I highlighted the anomaly that means Chernobyl children from Belarus who have recuperative holidays here receive free visas yet Chernobyl children from the north of Ukraine don't. That's the case even though the contamination in the north of Ukraine can be even worse than that in Belarus. The PM agreed that I should have a meeting with the Home Secretary to discuss the issue. I am sure they will see the benefits of free visas for all Chernobyl children so that even more ...
I thought I would take this opportunity to welcome the statement yesterday from Nick Clegg that the Liberal Democrats now believe that Britain should not renew Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent system with an equivalent modernised system. This will of course have to be ratified by the Party Conference, which is where the Liberal Democrats make policy, but I suspect that there will be little difficulty in getting that through. This is the right decision politically, economically and strategically. Clegg is absolutely right to assert that this decision makes sense in the context of rapidly deteriorating public finances and because the ...
Every week at Prime Minister's Questions David Cameron trots out the comment about Gordon Brown being a Prime Minister that none of us elected. I kn0w he is playing to the gallery as opinion polls show that people think we should have had an election when he took over. But until David Cameron comes up [...]
Things are really kicking off again within the One Wales Coalition Government following the appointment of Peter Hain as Secretary of State for Wales and his effective dismissal of the joint pledge to hold a referendum on Part Four of the Government of Wales Act 2006 before the next Assembly election. It is the usual suspects again, with a number of Plaid Cymru blogs piling in to question the authenticity of Peter Hain's statement, but also we have Bethan Jenkins AM on her blog and Plaid's Leader-elect, Adam Price in the Western Mail both querying the authenticity of Mr. Hain's ...
Residents of South Acton are outraged at the council's proposal to bulldoze the Priory Community Centre. While they have said it will be rebuilt somewhere else, the new site is insensitive to the connection the building brings with fellow residents in Southfields ward and overlooks several properties in Gloucester Road. Furthemore, it's beautiful old building. Do we really need a swanky rebuild when a refurbishment would be better? And why not you ask? A few points.1. They say the new (only 25m) pool will bring new investment into the area. Hmmm. With no tube nearby what that means is cars ...
{computerii} In this age of stimulus packages and needless intervention it has become fashionable again to incorrectly look to the government to solve problems. Such is the result of the Digital Britain report, released yesterday. Filled with more regulation, increased state monitoring, and additional taxation on phone lines, Digital Britain is a convenient way to increase government control in an increasingly over-taxed and over-regulated economy. As stated in its press release, the main goal of the Digital Britain report is for "Britain to sustain its position and grow as a leading digital economy and society." This may seem a reasonable ...
I got texted last night to tell me Nick Clegg was announcing not renewing Trident in today's Guardian, so of course I bought a copy. As my readers will know I am against renewing Trident and indeed against any nuclear weaponry so I was looking forward to reading of Nick's conversion.
All sorts of conflicting theories about events in Iran and what might be happening. Basically there are similarities to what happened in Armenia in March 2008 when the incumbent President Serzh Sarkisian blatantly stole an election and remained in power because the authorities were willing to mow down protesters in the streets. Armenia and Iran are neighbours and have very good relations - Sarkisian and Ahmedinejad 'work well' together. There is a large Armenian minority in Iran which has substantial priviledges. Over in A Fistful of Euros Douglas Muir paints a sombre picture. The shades of Tien An Men seem ...
David Cameron seems to have taken a battering from the blogger Mr Speaker as you can read on his blog the blogger criticises the below video and the cheap accent by Cameron and as you can see from the video below its hideous. The Conservatives are known for cheap politics like the stunt above and that's why I like the summary by Mr Speaker on the whole punch and judy show that Cameron displays every weak at PMQ's. Pretend you know everything when you don't know anythingSmile and make cheap jokes, then get one of your office members to add ...
This is my House Points column from last Friday's Liberal Democrat News. I was at home last Wednesday and thought that writing about prime minister's questions was a pretty cool idea. As it turned out a) it was an exceptionally dull PMQs and b) someone phoned me just after noon. Questions, questions I settled down in front of the television with beer and crisps to watch prime minister's questions. It would, I reasoned, provide more entertainment than England vs Andorra. But I was wrong. There were too many planted questions from Labour backbenchers - does Sir Gerald Kaufman have nothing ...
There's going to be a consultation in Liverpool about smoking and films. The PCT (health service) wants the Council to use its licensing powers to make sure that films that show smoking (with some exceptions) get high age certificates. The argument is that children are influenced into taking up smoking because of what they see on the screen. I say - rubbish! I was 100 percent behind the smoking ban in public places for good Liberal reasons (second hand smoke does clear harm to other people). I am 100 percent against this other move for good Liberal reasons too. Let's ...
{buybritish} Numerous times have I moaned about Barack Obama's protectionist instincts, manifested overtly in the "Buy American" scheme, and covertly in many surreptitious barriers to trade. Alas, this little misguided craze is catching on throughout the planet with various government interventions even copying the branding. In the Philippines, a new law forces state-funded organisations to "Buy Filipino," as well as outlining plans for subsidisation, tax exemptions and explicit favouritism when selecting companies that win government contracts. Meanwhile "Buy Aussie" is kicking off in the state of New South Wales, which would similarly force authorities to give preference to domestic firms. ...
Hat tip to LibDem Voice, Vince Cable has an article in the Indy in which he cautions against any "green shoots" euphoria: SNIP The patient has suffered a massive heart attack. Thanks to the wonders of modern economic medicine, the patient is improving remarkably rapidly in the Intensive Care Unit. But any suggestion of a return to "normality" is an invitation to another heart attack. There is now a long term legacy of weakness which we have to learn to live with. This is born out by figures from the real world, such as the news today that unemployment has ...
After what has been a tumultuous couple of weeks for the government PMQ'smarked something of a return to normality. Alan Whitehead opened up for Labour; with an obvious planted question asking what would be the effect of 'say a 10% cut' on combating climate change. David Cameron opened up well by saying 'Welcome to Prime [...]
Cameron and Brown follow their usual pattern of scuffling over cuts today. Cameron claims Brown plans real terms cuts from 2011, Brown claims real-terms rises in investment until 2012 an' anyway the Tories plan to make cuts straightaway. Heads I win, tails you lose. It's getting unbearable, listening to Brown. "We are the party of the many". Ugh. Cameron makes a rare slip, however, when he suggests that the reason Brown is so distrusted is not actually the recession – "there's a recession all over Europe". I have never in all my parliamentary viewing heard such baying from the Labour ...
I almost titled this post 'Women: you don't have to roller blade during your period', but I thought it might put off a) all men, b) post-menopausal women and c) those women who like to rollerblade throughout their cycle, so to speak, preferably wearing white jeans. But the point is the same. Adverts are just that - [...]
UPDATE: Here's a funny thing. Girl With a One Track Mind, who knows what it's like to be shat on by the Times, has just twittered as follows: The Times have gagged journo Patrick Foster, so neither he, nor I, will be appearing on @richardpbacon's R5Live show tonight. #NightJack So, they've outed an anonymous blogger "in the [...]
A trio of excellent posts from fellow Lib Dem bloggers which I wanted to highlight: Anders Hanson compares Lib Dem constituency organisers with TV programme Mary Queen of Charity Shops. When I worked in SE Cornwall in 1992, there were many volunteers who had been involved in the successful February 74 campaign and had been doing the same work (by and large excellently) at every campaign since then. The trouble was that campaigning techniques had developed and many of the people around them in 74 had moved on or, unfortunately, were no longer with us. So we needed to reinvigorate ...
I thought I had featured this little gem but looking back over the blog it seems I haven't. It's West Kilburn Baptist Church and is located on Carlton Vale - right at the outer reaches of the local patch. http://www.westkilburn.org/ The church is a great piece of confident mid Victorian religious architecture dating to 1865. Solid, gothic (but not dark) it retains the proseletysing characteristics that saw it set up. The accepted version is that it grew up and drew it's congregation from the many people located nearby working on the railway developments in the local area. I managed to ...
It's been a tad busy and the blog has slipped a week or two Normal service is now resuming so please return dear reader - but in the mean-time, thanks for your patience Ed
A lot of people are searching "Night Jack" and are coming to my blog so I thought I would create a blog post that would link to the two blog posts that I have written about the whole naming of the blogger Night Jack below: The news as it developedThe Statement by the Lancashire Police Constabulary
At breakneck speed this morning my Driving Instructors Bill passed its committee stage. In forty-five minutes we covered all seven clauses, two schedules and twenty six government amendments. Michael Connarty, Greg Knight and Robert Goodwill asked some very valid questions about dealing with malicious complaints, how serious the case would need to be before it required suspension and re-entry onto the register. The Bill received unanimous support. It's a good example of cross party cooperation. The Bill now goes for Report and Third Reading on Friday 26th June.
The fun and games of the Parliamentary parties has today taken a new standard with an anonymous letter by an MP sent to all Tory MP's complaining about Cameron and his inner circle. I think this is amusing at certain levels and a little worrying at others. This is amusing as it brings out the real Conservative party MP's, a group who will back stab their leaders when they have a bit of power. Examples of this are Thatcher and her cabinet and then Major and his cabinet. The Conservative Parliamentary party can not keep a leader that they are ...
2 big stories No prizes for guessing it's Iran above the fold again today. After ruling out a votes recount, the ruling forces had this to say, which is of some interest to anyone who gets their political news online: Following a crackdown on the foreign press, the Revolutionary Guards, Iran's most powerful military force, warned online media of similar treatment over their coverage of the country's election crisis. In its first statement since the crisis broke out, the guards - an elite force answering to the supreme leader - said Iranian websites and bloggers must remove any materials that ...
The Digital Britain report's plans to ensure that everyone has access to 2mpbs broadband by 2012 has mostly attracted attention for the low speed being aimed for and the ways in which it will be funded. However, two other aspects are notable. First, 2012 is not very far away. Indeed, as targets arising from long-term reports go, it's pretty darn close. Second, the underlying rationale - stop the internet exacerbating social exclusion - is one that means it may well mutate into a standard that internet services are expected to meet. Take the example of councils webcasting their meetings. At ...
Like most people, I've been involved in a fair number of organisations over the years, from companies that I've worked for to sports clubs, social organisations and, of course, the Liberal Democrats. I well remember what a thorn in the side of Prime Minister Asquith we Young Liberals were (OK, not quite - it was Lloyd-George). Some organisations have a clear objective. Companies want to make profits and build the business. Local political parties aim to win elections. Charities raise money and spend it. Sports clubs play a decent programme of fixtures and hopefully win a few. There's a clear, ...
It is good news that Nick Clegg is moving onto a more realistic position on 'Trident'. I support the slightly qualified pleasure Lindy blogs to this news. Yes we MUST have a full debate at the next Federal Conference. Our present voted-on policy is not a fudge, it is an acid drop. 'Trident' (the missile system) is only a minor part of the problem we face and we need to look at these wider issues if we as a party are to regain full coherence on this issue. Pushing Trident as the issue is in a way a smokescreen hiding ...
Over at The Independent, Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable pours cold water on the idea the economy is bouncing back, arguing that we are seeing an economists' and financiers' recovery rather than a real one. Here's an excerpt: The mother of all economic crises seems mysteriously to have vanished in the face of a determined counter-offensive by the forces of optimism. There are daily accounts of returning confidence in financial and property markets and bodies like the National Institute of Economic and Social Research are forecasting an early return to growth. Perhaps those government ministers who spotted the "green ...
In a pastiche to Jeff at SNP Tactical Voting my good friend Caron raised an intersting point last night when she wrote: "The question is will Devine resign now, like Ian Gibson, and cause another by-election? If he did, that would be a major headache for Labour in Scotland as they also have to defend Speaker Martin's Glasgow seat. While having the first Livingston by election on the same day as the Scottish Parliament Cathcart by-election split the Nationalist effort, the climate was very different then." She does have a point. During Glasgow East and Glenrothes by elections I've seen ...
Rumours are reaching Freedom Central that a call to Transport House (Welsh Labour HQ) currently results in receiving the following message. 'Welsh Labour is now closed.' We didn't know things had got quite *that* bad. No related posts.
With the world's most important environment conference ever taking place in Copenhagen later this year I am throwing myself back into the work of curbing the global warming that threatens our future. These days I am regarded as the European political expert on carbon capture and storage technology that can take CO2 out of coal and inject it into old gas bearing rocks beneath the sea. It's hugely important. Coal provides one third of our electricity but if we don't reduce emissions from it we will not slow climate change. Over the next 5 years we have the chance to ...
The big domestic political news last night was Nick Clegg's announcement that the Lib Dems would oppose the renewal of the Trident nuclear deterrent, arguing "the world has changed, the facts have changed, you've got to change with them. So like-for-like replacement for Trident is just not right." As Nick himself has admitted, this is a reversal of the position he adopted in the leadership contest with Chris Huhne in late 2007. The Nick argued that dumping Trident would destroy the UK's bargaining power in non-proliferation talks in 2010. Here's the BBC news report: Mr Clegg hit back that there ...
See Glyn Davies's blog.
ICM have now put the details of their June political poll up on the company website. The results provide some clues as to why the Liberal Democrats had mixed results in the English local elections and a drop in support in the European elections. The campaign was dominated by public fury over MPs' expenses. This brought a renewed debate over how to make politics better. The Lib Dems sought to meet this by promising to "change politics for good" and by kicking off the "take back power" campaign. But the ICM poll showed the public almost evenly divided on whether ...
After a 14 year old girl was raped in Ilkley on Sunday police want to interview two men. The following is from the Ilkley Gazette: "The suspects were seen between 5pm and 6pm in the area of the New Brook Street bridge and the skate park. They were making comments to girls walking past them. Both are between 5ft 4in and 5ft 6in tall, about 19-years-old and spoke with Yorkshire accents. One was white, and had a distinctive non-spikey, mousy coloured Mohican style hair cut - short at the side and long on top and the back. He was wearing ...
At the weekend I blogged about the tragic death of Bradley Carty, a teenager from Clerkenwell, who drowned on a day trip abroad. I was very moved to hear about Bradley's death and the struggles his family had to bring him home. At 19, on a day trip, travel insurance is the last thing on [...]
I blogged yesterday about the on-going fiasco of the Welsh Government's attempt to draw down powers on affordable housing and as expected this morning's press covers it in some detail. What is surprising however is the way that everybody, including opposition politicians, have accepted the Government line that it is the LCO system that is solely to blame for the fact that we have had to start again and that unless we move at exceptionable and unprecedented speed and get the new LCO through before the General Election then we will have to launch a third attempt shortly afterwards. The ...
"Our members are tired of feeding the hand that bites them," says Unison General Secretary Dave Prentis. The union has suspended the £2 million per year that it pays to Labour. Good. That should make things a little fairer for the ...
The "Working Group" met last Wednesday 10th June at 7pm The meeting was facilitated by Louise Trewavas, Communications & Consultation Manager, Finance and Schools Support, Children Schools and Families (CSF) and Chaired by Sarah Bourne, Head of Property and Contracts at Camden Council. Cllr Andrew Mennear reported progress as Richard Lewin was unavailable due to health reasons. Louise Trewavas reported that the number of unplaced children has decreased from the 133 to 127 (latest figures from Louise as of 12th June indicates that the figure has fallen now to 107). Cllr Andrew Mennear reported that CSF were "in talks" with ...
The Government has released a 245 page report on how we're going to move Britain into the ditigal age, accelerate down the fast lane of the information superhighway and any other trite tech-goodness you might want to mention. No, I haven't read the whole thing, but I'm going to pontificate anyway from my glance through the executive summary (over 80 paragraphs, so I'm not completely slacking). There's some fun-but-meaningless jargon to keep the web 2.0 crowd happy. "We are at an inflection point in technology, in capability and in demand." "We are at a tipping point in relation to the ...
Whilst in Shropshire - at The Bog, to be precise - I bought a copy of Michael Shaw's new book The Lead, Copper and Barytes Mines of Shropshire. How could I resist a title like that? On page 58 he writes: If the Snailbeach Railway was a very minor line, the last of the three lines developed is positively shadowy.Prior to the First World War Cothercott mine had a steep tramway from their principal mining area to the roadside loading dock and later mill site. In 1920, after much heated debate with the County Council over the damage their road ...
Sunder Katwala has a one stop shop for blog comment about the shameful outing of Orwell prize winning blogger Night JackBut Alix Mortimer deserves special singling out for an excellent post on this subject which declares it a sad day for investigative journalismLib Dem in Hackney advocates tactical play to try and ensure we get as close to hung parliament as possible. That could be a very dangerous game...Tom Harris explains a temporary shift in his support for John Bercow to allow Parmjit Dhanda to address the houseAnd Dizzy has an interesting post about how a teenager has found a ...
Well. For those of us who campaigned hard against Trident, today's news is just the best! The frustration so many of us had about the debate, the resultant motion and the fudge we ended up with, has now been replaced with pride and relief. Throughout his leadership bit Nick often made reference to our need as a party to be "risky and radical" something that on FPC I take every opportunity to remind him, here is a demonstration, if one were needed, of his preparedness to do that. However, I do trust we will have a motion to conference, however ...
A quick stroll across Stanhope Park to the Arts Centre last night to pay £10.50 see former BBC Weather presenter and manager Helen Young giving a talk entitled "Climate Change: Debunking the Myths". Ms Young is a nice, jolly lady who, from the back of the theatre, could be mistaken for Kate Winslet. Unfortunately, the talk seemed to just go over all the old ground about climate change, was
The massacre of Tianammen Square happened twenty years ago this month. On that occasion we saw a peaceful many student led protest for change and democracy slowly quietened then quashed by force. The eyes of the world watched as the army moved in to break that up. The outcome is that China still tries to control just what information the Chinese people do have access to. Move on to now and instead of Beijing we have Tehran. Instead of the Communist Party cadre on the street we have the Basiji the religious militia. Instead of a few thousand hanging chads ...
Good day so far: a van has arrived with 24 bottles of Cornish real ale, bought from Sharp's at http://bit.ly/cfvne. I <3 teh interwebs. # RT @white_hart RT @unblinkered Will be "living" in Tehran for a while.....explanation here http://bit.ly/GNyon #iranelection #
The Tory party leader today faked a German accent which could land him into some bother. A person from the audience quizzed him straight away and he started to do the 'Tory thing.' By this i refer to the weekly audition that they undergo at PMQs. 1Pretend you know everything when you don;t know anything. 2 Smile and make cheap jokes, then get one of your office members to add them to wikipedia. 3 Drop a cheesy line and cross your fingers and hope it gets onto the cover of the tabloids. 4 Hide your policies because we have not ...
I have changed the look of my blog and i hope the readers like it. If anyone wishes to have a template free then why not visit Deluxe templates
I have returned to the world of blogging after a long hard time at work. My job is quite challenging and sometimes i have to work late and away from home. So therefore i am attending late night meetings and have literally no time to blog. However over the next three months i am fixed at a desk so therefore will be blogging more. I hope my readers will return and enjoy the blog.
Well, I use 'writer' in the loosest possible sense, but the end result is the same: I have nothing to say. Update. You know what it is? I'm sick to the back teeth of politics. I'm sick of politicians. Labour? Brown? How did I ever imagine, for a second, that they were worth writing about? Worth caring about? There's got to be more to life than this, surely? I'm simply overwhelmed. We live in a highly risk-averse society, full of fear and threats. Liberty is to 'normal' people what leaving home is to a pre-teen. It's not something to be ...
The anorak in me has a hoard of past election literature. It took me all of 2 seconds earlier to lay my hands on the Livingston by election literature. Flicking through it I noticed that a relative of the employee who allegedly got paid £60 of the thousands Devine claimed for travel expenses around the constituency is featured as one of the endorsers. But what I was really looking for where the words. In the Election Communication that would have been addressed to me if Labour had used an up to date rolling electoral register from 10 months before the ...
There is a convention that elections in Britain take place on a Thursday, but there is nothing set in stone that says this has to be the case. Like so much that has developed within the country's unwritten constitution and political system, a habit simply became the norm. Sunday (a favoured polling day in much [...]
Recently I signed a petition to the Government of Israel asking that they stop their policy of building settlements on Palestinian land.
