Still scheduled to be at Silverstone later as Shell/Ferrari guests despite last night's implosion. Could easily be cancelled, obviously. # http://twitpic.com/7sev2 – Silverstone weather holding up, just. #
I has my laptop back! She's as good as new! Also, I have had much beer. Also, this made me giggle, and not think of anyone called Rupert at all, honest. ETA: Pop Quiz! If you write for the Daily Fail, how far UP do you have to reach before you get to the bottom of the barrel to scrape it? This blog is proudly sponsored by
The news that the police are to investigate a small number of the most serious allegations is welcome. Without prejudging these investigations or any subsequent legal action, it is to these cases that public and press attention should be directed. they have become lost in a thicket of detail, and people have become too concerned with increasingly petty individual claims. For the future, the best defence is to compel MPs to publish their expense claims - without the black ink slathered over them.
Michael Crick was trying to make Liberal Democrat blood run cold on Newsnight earlier this evening, and now the story is on the BBC News website: Police are investigating money laundering allegations over the Liberal Democrats' acceptance of £2.4m from a donor later convicted of fraud.Michael Brown's donation hugely boosted the party's 2005 election campaign, the BBC's Newsnight programme said.Mr Brown was convicted of fraud in 2008 but vanished before being sentenced to seven years in jail last month.The party said its auditors were "satisfied that we do not need to make provision for repayment".Mr Brown's victims say the Liberal ...
The Daily Mail website was running an online poll with the very Daily Mail question, "Should the NHS allow gipsies to jump the queue?" In what looks like a striking display of social media's power, lots of messages sprung up on Twitter urging people to vote in the poll. A quick search I did on Twitter for tweets featuring the bit.ly short URL used found over 1,500 tweets, with numerous comments along the lines of 'annoy the Daily Mail - vote for the answer they don't want'. No great surprise then that at one point the poll was registering 94% ...
An album of songs about cricket by Neil Hannon from The Divine Comedy? That's too good to be true. But it is true. Spin magazine reports: Hannon has collaborated with Tom Walsh of fellow (but less well-known) sprightly Dublin popsters Pugwash on a project called 'The Duckworth Lewis Method.' And it is rather good: 12 genuinely good tunes that just happen to be about surreal cricketing topics.There's a song from the point of view of Mike Gatting as he faces up to Shane Warne's Ball of the Century ('Jiggery Pokery'); there's a song about going on the hippy trail to ...
According to reports by the BBC the Police have decided to investigate a small number of MPs with regards to their expenses claims. One is Bury North MP David Chaytor and the BBC alleges that party colleague Elliot Morley will also be investigated. Full story available here.
One of the curious features of this recession has been the way in which it has come in waves. The financial sector was the first to be hit; followed by commercial property, the residential property market and then the high street, the service sector and more traditional industry. Geographically too, the downturn which griped London first has rippled out to other parts. About 18 months ago, some commentators were predicting that London would be disproportionally affected because of its over-reliance on financial services. There is no doubt that London has been severely impacted but it increasingly seems likely that areas ...
Your Focus team has long campaigned against Government plans for thousands of new homes to be built in South Gloucestershire. We had expected a final decision on the numbers from the Secretary of State by the end of June. Now though it has been delayed indefinitely due a legal challenge to a similar plan elsewhere in the country. Until the implications of that can be considered, no new timetable can be set for the decision. We will keep you posted.
Day 10 and the niceness is being maintained. Today, I've had an exchange via Millennium's extra fluffy blog with a young man purporting to the the Deputy Editor of 'Liberal Conspiracy'. And, despite his seeming inability to understand that his judgement in publishing Rupert Read's childish whine about the big bad Liberal Democrats costing him the opportunity to rack up the expenses as an MEP, I've been quite gentle on him. Of course, this is much easier when he is unwise enough to venture onto Millennium's manor - actually, 'unwise' doesn't really cover this, try 'recklessly foolhardy' - where his ...
Tonight's "Evening Telegraph" covered by concerns about the Scottish Government's delays over the school building programme. I reproduce below two news releases this week from the Scottish Liberal Democrats on this subject: SCOTT ATTACKS DELAYS TO SCHOOL BUILDING PROGRAMME Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott attacked Alex Salmond over massive delays to the school building programme at this week's FMQs. After two years of delay, the First Minister was still unable to say which schools are in line to receive funding for vital upgrades. "The Government has wasted two years failing to get the Scottish Futures Trust to work - ...
Well, you can't have it.
I looked up William Hanbury in Guy Paget and Lionel Irvine's Leicestershire from the Robert Hale County Books series. They write:In 1758 Mr Hanbury exhibited his first proposals for his charities. The exordium was:"It will be no difficulty to pick out a society of honest and worthy men whose virtue and probity will render them truly respectable, and apply whatever is entrusted to their care to the glory of God, and the good of mankind."To this he adds in his book a footnote:"Here I must own myself to have been mistaken; for I soon found it to be the most ...
My relationship with management has, over the years, been an unusual one. We tend to settle on an arrangement whereby I don't harass them over their failings, and they leave me to deliver whatever it is that appears to be most important. However, where I have respected my bosses (and that doesn't mean agree with them on everything), I tend to perform better. I enjoy an intellectual challenge. and a manager who thinks before they act tends to convince me that there is some strategic awareness and an understanding of the broader picture. I may not always agree with their ...
Monday: Saw my GP, got a revised prescription list, and reference for an X-ray of my right knee, which is a minor problem. Bangladesh Jamaat lawyer Abdil Razzak came to lunch at the House. We discussed the government report on the BDR uprising in February, and the absence of accountability for the deaths of 21 BDR personnel in custody, now said to be under investigation by a civil servant. Mr Razzak thought a High Court judge should have been asked to conduct the inquiry. But most of the time we talked about the War Crimes Act of 1973. The AL ...
The Clerkenwell County Court building is not, confusingly, in Clerkenwell, but on the corner of Duncan Street and Duncan Terrace near the Angel. It closed as a working court back in 2006 when the Clerkenwell court merged with the Shoreditch one at a new site in Gee Street. As a County Court, much of its [...]
Yesterday the Financial Times ran an obituary from Liberal Democrat peer William Wallace: Ralf Dahrendorf, who has died at the age of 80, crowded several careers, in Germany and Britain, into a single life. First a leading academic sociologist, then a rising Liberal German politician, director of the London School of Economics and later warden of St Antony's College, Oxford, he combined political engagement and intellectual debate. He was successively a German minister, a European commissioner and a British peer. He was a European public intellectual; the author of nearly 30 books, and a long-standing columnist for Die Zeit and ...
Interested news item from the BBC which reports on the Ofsted conclusions regarding one of Sheffield's first Academies. Sheffield Spring's gained Academy status in 2006 since when it has been under the control of the United Learning Trust, a Christian charity. For those who think that Academy status is some kind of miracle cure for failing [...]
Well done to Hilary Benn, Labour secretary of state for environement, food and rural affairs, for recording a video to highlight the importance of tackling climate change – but next time, Mr Benn, perhaps it would be best not to keep your table lamp switched on when it's broad daylight...
Many fellow Lib Dem Bloggers have been criticising Liberal Conspiracy but I think someone or another needs to support Liberal Conspiracy and I am proud to say that is me. Sunny Hundal can be an ass at times but overall he is a good blogger and we need to value that. I have on many occasions had conversations with Sunny via technology and they have shown some interesting things about the man which I wouldn't have learnt otherwise. Sunny Hundal is a self centred a** who thinks that he is the top tog in political blogging which clearly he is ...
The Liberal Democrat leader was in Norwich last night for a question and answer session with a public audience: Mr Clegg spoke for about 90 minutes and took about 30 questions from the audience ranging from withdrawal from the European Union to how to prevent another financial crisis.The biggest cheer came when Mr Clegg responded to a question from a man who called for the nationalisation of the city's rail and bus service.Mr Clegg said that "50pc of train journeys" he had travelled on from Norwich to London had been delayed, while Norman Lamb, Lib Dem MP for North Norfolk, ...
The Telegraph reports: Students are facing a desperate scramble to get into university amid warnings of a further squeeze on places. ... On Wednesday night, Phil Willis, the committee's Liberal Democrat chairman, wrote to Lord Mandelson to ask how he would meet the huge demand for higher education triggered by the recession. It represents Lord Mandelson's first test since taking over the new Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in the Cabinet reshuffle. Student leaders have already warned of looming chaos as thousands of teenagers leave school and college without university places or employment. By April this year, almost 525,000 ...
Today's House Points column from Liberal Democrat News was clearly influenced by my recent break in Shropshire. The Tale of "Honest Burgess" I have just spent a few days in one of my favourite English towns. The steep main street of Bishop's Castle in Shropshire runs from the site of the long-vanished castle down to a church with a Norman tower. At the top of that street is a collection of fine Georgian houses. When you discover how they were paid for, you realise there is nothing new about political corruption. Before the Great Reform Act of 1832 Bishop's Castle ...
This is me outside Cowley St today, my last day on the Lib Dem staff payroll. I am busy clearing the last bits from my desk. In a few minutes I will be out of the building......
It could only happen in Southend: In a letter to the Echo published last month, Lib Dem councillor Ric Morgan said he had been working on the seafront during the airshow when the "nobs" were having lunch at the Cliffs Pavilion. Southend mayor, Lib Dem councillor Brian Smith, was one of only three people at the lunch on bank holiday Monday, even though the council had pre-booked and paid for 60 places. Shoebury Conservatives accused Mr Morgan of bringing the office of mayor into disrepute and demanded an apology. However, Mr Morgan has stood by his comments and urged his ...
Two Welsh Government Ministers have ended up with egg on their face this week after overstretching themselves in their respective portfolios. First up is Economy and Transport Minister, Ieuan Wyn Jones who has now come to an agreement with the Assembly's Finance Committee over important information they needed to complete their review on transport. The Minister had refused to give a document to the Committee that they had requested and they threatened to subpoena him. Incredibly, Mr. Jones had decided to treat the Committee's request as a Freedom of Information application but has now admitted that he was wrong to ...
The overwhelmingly pro-Labour site styling itself "Liberal Conspiracy" has long seemed to me yet another attempt to co-opt Liberals under the Labour Party's 'leadership', but I'm still slightly sad that they've driven away those fighting a Liberal corner such as Alix Mortimer and, this week, Jennie Rigg, after a whingeing, self-pitying Green loser writing there that the Liberal Democrats smell. Millennium posted an article in reply, and the whingeing, self-pitying deputy editor of Labour Conspiracy has today been laying into a fluffy elephant, alternately making hyper-macho attacks on and pleading for mercy from a soft toy when his arguments detumesce. ...
I'm just watching Reporting Scotland and have been horrified to see that Jim Devine failed to show at a constiteuncy surgery in Livingston this afternoon. Devine has been in the news a lot this week after being deselected as MP for Livingston over his expenses claims. If he's going to stay on as an MP, he can't hide away from local people. If someone goes to see their MP, chances are they are desperate and need urgent help. The least he could have done would have been to send along a local councillor or a member of his staff to ...
When the Speaker gave his valedictory address to the House of Commons this week he was adamant that MPs were architects of their own misfortune by failing to support reform when they had the opportunity just under a year ago. At that time a package put together by Liberal Democrat MP, Nick Harvey was rejected by a majority of 28. The vast majority of MPs - 146 of the 172 - who voted to keep the allowance, described as the "John Lewis list", were Labour, including 33 ministers. It was widely reported at that time that opposition to reforms was ...
Three major polling agencies say that after a patchy first year, marked by low levels of public recognition, Nick Clegg is steadily becoming more popular. The Populus leader index measures Messrs Brown, Cameron and Clegg on a 10-point "how good a leader", scale. In June, Nick had a score of 4.64 (and 4.71 in May). This is well up from 4.08, in November 2008, his lowest score. Nick's previous highest score was 4.52, in May 2008. (Note: Populus doesn't run the leader index every month). YouGov asks voters whether they think each leader is doing very well, fairly well, fairly ...
Bath & North East Somerset Council's libraries are getting ready to welcome children into a fantastical adventure that will keep them reading throughout the school summer holidays. The Summer Reading Challenge is a very successful national reading initiative, managed locally by Bath & North East Somerset Council's libraries. This year the challenge has a fantasy theme and has the title Quest...
Michael Crick returns to the expenses issue on Newsnight tonight. I'm just off to do a pre-record for the programme. Update 6pm: Cancelled owing to the breaking news on the police investigation.
The BBC have the story - apparently only applies to a small number of MPs.
President Nixon said early last night! oops sorry wrong story. Its funny though how many administrations fully co-operate when there is no choice. I wonder if the Mp'S expenses would have come out if it was not for the Telegraph similar what do you think?
{chris_mccafferty_0708_IEP_Page_074} After having a little rumage through my local Calder Valley Labour MP, Chris McCafferty's redacted expenses forms and I came across something quite interesting. She seems to be paying the leader of the Calderdale Council Labour group, Tim Swift, £1250 per quarter for consultancy fees from her expenses. As I do not have the money for paying expensive lawyers, I shall not be making any unsubstantiated accusations or assumptions about these payments but I thought it was worth drawing attention to. By censoring the expenses the Parliamentary Fee Offices has created more questions than answers. I do hope Chris ...
A lot of mixed feelings about last nights result. The CLP has made its decision.The party has now got to knuckle down and be strong. Question John do you think they made the right decision. The people hate Her and i am sure many will question your parties decision, I can think of 13,000 reasons. [...]
Depression is costing the economy £8.6bn a year, up two thirds in a decade, research by the Liberal Democrats has revealed. The figures, calculated by the House of Commons Library show that the cost of depression in lost earnings have risen by £3bn since 1999. Commenting, Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson, who chairs the All...
The Liberal Democrats have become the first mainstream party to declare they will not renew Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent system with an equivalent modernised system, as parliament agreed in 2007. To read the full story follow the link HERE
Exclusive Neal Keeling June 19, 2009 HAZEL Blears is facing a new challenge after surviving a vote of no confidence, the M.E.N. can reveal today. Union boss and `people's champion' Alec McFadden , is poised to stand against her at the next election. He made his name fighting for staff who lost their jobs when The Accident [...]
I see expenses and I want them painted black No colors anymore I want them to turn black I see homes walk by flipped in their summer clothes I have to turn my head until my darkness goes I see a line of MPs, they're all painted black With moats and islands never to come back I see committees turn and quickly look away Like an old Speaker it just happens every day I look inside myself and see my heart is black I see my Telegraph and it's been painted black Maybe they'll fade away, refuse to face the ...
This is priceless. Thanks, fellow humans!
Lord Greedy is taking a long deserved holiday in his holiday home which is next door to the holiday home of my fellow Peer Lord Rennard's. Lord Greedy shall go to the holiday home but the Lord would like to share a secret with you which is actually the holiday home according to the Parliamentary servants is my real home. But the last time Lord Greedy went to the holiday home was last recess! Until after Recess Lord Greedy would like to say bye to all readers of the Lord's Diary and would like to continue reading the work of ...
Choosing the next Speaker is always a great responsibility but, in the current climate of hatred and suspicion of MPs, it is particularly important that we get the right person this time.Current favourite, according to the Bookies, is John Bercow and he is the person I am publicly backing. In less tumultuous times I would probably have supported Sir Alan Beith or even Sir George Young as both
I am not one of those who reads Lib dem Voice and only go to the site if it has linked to me (I find that out via my statcounter) and why so when a blog reader hinted to me that their is a blog post on the site to do with politics in Lancashire I went to the site to investigate and have something interesting to share with you. According to reports Lancashire County Council have been using Anti terror laws to spy on employees and I am a shocked to read this and then I have a couple ...
Alex Singleton on the Telegraph Three Line Whip blog has a short piece today which reveals that a Downing Street staff member has said that Gordon Brown was briefed by Damian McBride just before going onto the Andrew Marr show on 31st May less than 3 weeks ago and well after he was sacked due to Smeargate. Alex goes on to say that this contradicts Downing Street's assertions to Scotland on Sunday that McBride had not returned as a spin doctor. However it's worse than that. I knew I recalled him denying this at PMQs and sure enough, according to ...
LDV will be represented tomorrow at ALDC's Local Solutions 2009 conference in Sheffield. It'll be a first outing for the exciting new Lib Dem Voice banner. {ldvbanner} We'll be there to help raise the profile of the site, and to ask Lib Dem councillors to write their stories up for us. We're always on the look out to beef up our local government coverage with stories the Lib Dems at the coalface who are actually running things. Could you write a piece about an exciting Lib Dem achievement in your area? If not write... why not phone the podcast hotline ...
Full Council The main debates at this meeting were around Council leisure provision with focus on Cheam Baths, and the Sutton Life Centre. The motion on Leisure Provision in the borough was moved by Cllr. Chris Dunlop who sadly and suddenly died a little while after this meeting and has prompted the Nonsuch by-election. Cllr. Dunlop spoke [...]
The situation in Iran is clearly very serious and tense and we must watch developments there with concern. As a student of international politics I am always fascinated by Iran and often frustrated that this potentially powerful country doesn't make more of itself. How can it with a populist clown as its President and half its population struggling to make ends meet while he postures with nuclear weapons? The trouble is that I am always faced with a titanic struggle, when watching, hearing or reading reports on that country, to put Pamela Stephenson out of my mind. "Ayatollah, Khomenei closer ...
Inverclyde UA, Ward 6 - Inverclyde South WestThe SNP Candidate won with 1087 votes at the sixth stage.First preference votes are given below: -SNP 919Lab 490LD Eric Forbes 454Con 171Ind 67UKIP 49Free Scotland Party 17Turnout was 26.5%
I've just scan-read NHS Primary Care Service Framework - Gipsy and Traveller Communities. It seems entirely fair to me. It is therefore entertaining to read the hysterical mouth-foaming bigotry which this dry document has aroused in the Daily Mail and Richard Littlejohn, culminating in what has been tweetily described as the Daily Mail's Worst poll here (vote early and often - and I wouldn't, of course, advocate voting "yes" to skew it - that would be terrible).
Although I knew the F1 rebels (who actually comprise 80% of the current teams) were meeting last night, I reckoned that nothing much would happen after I went to bed at half past ten. How wrong could I be? After midnight, the Formula One Teams Association announced that Max Mosley, who has been trashing them all week rather than trying to bridge the gap between them, could basically go forth and multiply because they were going to form their own race series. Fed up at Mosley's dictatorial governance of the sport, they have decided to walk away and form their ...
Supreme leader of Iran, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei today branded the British Government the 'most evil' after declaring that the recent disputed election results were completely valid and called for an end to the opposition protests. You know what I say to this? He don't know from evil. As much as it often saddens me to say, Gordon Brown is a progressive fellow who isn't racist, homophobic or anti-Semitic like a certain Austrian I could mention. Nor has he sent millions of Jews, Gays or Roma people to their deaths in concentration camps. In fact, on the scale of 'evil' ...
Rookery Tree (on the road near Stonehenge) Around the stones The rhythm runs And in the west The dipping sun Sears the sky A bloody hue As the rook sings For you High tree, branch and wind Feathers ruffle, song begins Silver seals the soul from guilt Moonlight gilds the restless flint In his eyes unwinds the night So the rook sings Harsh song From claw and bone Calling all those winged home Chatter, hop and quarrel join His gregarious chorus line Harsh song From claw and bone He calls you home Around the stones The rhythm runs And in ...
Cross-posted from the Mandate blog: {Tim Berners-Lee} It's easy to be cynical about big name external appointments to government. After all, they're an easy media hit to add a touch of glamour but often come to grief with the person involved achieving little. However, the news that the inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, is to become a government advisor on 'public information delivery' looks set to be one of the better ones. A successful veteran of working successfully with bureaucracy - and a multinational one at that - from his time at CERN, he is likely to ...
Yesterday I posted an importnat item by guaranteed next day deliver by 1pm Special Delivery.I sent it to Great Yarmouth. The tracking code was SJ 7757 9356 3 GB.At about 12.30 your website changed to claim it had been delivered on time, electronically tracked.Only it hadn't.It arrived at 13.14. It was the only item on a paper Special Delivery signed for sheet.I have tried calling your Customer
English Heritage is providing Managed Open Access to Stonehenge for the summer solstice, details here. Will Nadal's knees be OK? Will this be Murray's year to triumph? Wimbledon starts next week, details of draws etc here. British Grand Prix at Silverstone, details here. Both Jensen Button and Lewis Hamilton have special one-off helmet livery for their home race. (Don't forget Father Day on Sunday!)
I finally got around to looking at the expenses of the seven MPs who represent constituencies within my region last night and found a lot of....black. From what I see in this morning's press, on blogs and elsewhere my experience is not unique. What were the Parliamentary authorities thinking? This must be their most spectacular own-goal yet though there is some close competition. What saddens me most is that this fiasco is being overseen by a small group of MPs who should know better and who should have provided better oversight. Perhaps they need to follow Speaker Michael Martin into ...
Well what do you know? This old film about the origins of Wood Green High Road was sent to me http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=74415 It brought back loads of memories as my aunt had a net curtain shop at the Turnpike Lane end of Wood Green High Road. My mother would often leave me there on a Saturday morning whilst she had to go to work. No 7 it was I think - Taylors of Wood Green. I used to love it. High counters, bolts of lacy material - and in the back I was allowed to play all morning. My ambition was, ...
The Arbury and Stockingford by-election on Warwickshire County Council now has a date. It will take place on 16 July.
The partial publication of MPs' expenses reveals that Darlington MP Alan "Six Jobs" Milburn claimed £963 for a firm of Chartered Accountants to prepare his self-assessment tax return. The rest of us manage to do this ourselves without the help of Chartered Accountants. After all, as the Government keep telling us, "Tax doesn't have to be taxing!" Now, because I own a company, I need an accountant
The events that have begun to unfold in Iran over the past week are, as Western media continues to point out, seismic. Undoubtedly this is a story which will, regardless of whether the protests succeed, have huge ramifications for the politics of the Middle East. I want to do three things - first, put a little perspective on the magnitude of the events, second, draw your attention to some of the best stuff from the vast amount of coverage, and then make a more general point about coverage of this event. Much has been made of the fact that 60% ...
Many people know about the scrutiny that I put Alan Duncan through when I met him a while ago and with revelations by Guido that has has been claiming £250 for petty cash (he isn't the only one doing it) I would just like to send Alan Duncan a message. Alan we shall meet again one day and we will talk about your petty cash business and your gardening that you were getting done with the general public's money. A MP once said that he would never go in front of Paxman because his fellow colleagues have sleepless nights before ...
Sutton Mental Health Foundation Drop in Centre Visit I went along to the drop-in centre in Belmont along with some other members of the Health and Well Being Scrutiny Committee to see the work of the Foundation in action. The Foundation is an independently managed charity which offers additional services to people with mental health issues. We were [...]
This mornings papers are full of comment about the redacted nature of the publication of MP's expenses and it was a major theme of last night's Question Time. Maybe this redaction went too far but the fact is that some things were rightly redacted to protect peoples privacy. Who is going to be brave enough [...]
With Davi Kopenawa, leader of the Yanomami indigenous people from Brazil, at the reception to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Survival International, June 10
Charlotte Gore has gone all meme-y in an attempt to break her writer's block (seems to be working, thank heavens) and given us a run-down of her best and worst mugs. Mine are mostly very boring, so I won't subject you to them, but there's one of Mrs Quist's that I've often thought might, in the nicest possible way, suit both Charlotte and another one of my favourite bloggers, the cute little bundle of fluffiness that isn't Jennie Rigg (dear me, that wasn't a quote was it?)
When I discovered that the preparation of the expense claims prior to publication had been contracted out to a private company, the leak made more sense. I still wasn't wildly impressed, as it was likely to impact on the privacy of individuals who had nothing to do with the MP expense fiasco. However, now that we've seen what the Parliamentary authorities were planning to publish, you begin to appreciate why someone might feel tempted to 'disinfect using sunlight'. As an attempt at transparency, yesterday's publication was as opaque as a lead-coated window, and risks incensing public opinion further. That said, ...
Nadine Dorries, Conservative MP for Mid Bedfordshire, is, errr, highly popular across all sides of the political spectrum. On her blog today, she wrote (emphasis mine): I have never claimed for furniture or gardening or petty cash or anything other than expenses incurred as part of my role as an MP. In fact, to date, I have spent almost £2000 of my own money this year entertaining constituents in the House of Commons. As a single mum with a number of dependents and responsibilities, that is money I have struggled to afford. As a bleeding heart liberal, I have great ...
Paul Waugh has highlighted something interesting. Apparently there has been an off the record briefing by "allies of the Foreign Secretary" in The Independent which rubbish Ed Balls in relation to his comments about the Iraq inquiry. Now I am not saying that Ed Balls does not deserve this, he is a big boy and can doubtless take it as he so often dishes it out, but the comments contrast sharply with David Miliband's calls last week for the media to: abandon unattributable briefings, saying all politicians' spokesmen should be named, or not quoted by media outlets. "The gotcha culture ...
The Guardian is linking up all the MPs expenses claims and receipts to a special tool which allows web users to highlight and comment on each and every page of claims and receipts. They ask us to ferret out points that need further investigation. This of course also gives MPs or their staff the opportunity to access the same online tool and add notes to any page so that obscure entries are clarified. Having glanced through several entries from MPs of all parties I would say such annotation is very much needed, and that is assuming everything is completely above ...
When the Conservatives launched the campaign Back Boris and handed out taxi receipts to cabbies in hope they would use them and give them to customers the Tories didn't know where the receipts would end up but now we know where one of them did end up. It ended up in Parliament in the allowances office because George Galloway submitted one as a taxi receipt! Imagine what George Galloway would have been thinking when he received a Back Boris receipt! Boris, you really are a genius political campaigner I loved the receipt campaign as many others probably did as well! ...
I've never been one for the 'My party, right or wrong' line - and that certainly goes for my party's unofficial 'place to talk' (excellent though I think Lib Dem Voice is). One of the issues where I think they're getting it wrong is on the use of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 [...]
Mohammed Sarwar the MP for Glasgow Central has been claiming for a mobile phone contract with Vodafone as you can see above and to see it on the Parliamentary site follow the link. My only query is that why does Sarwar have a contract that only gives him 350 minutes which he then goes over costing the tax payer even more money. Why doesn't Sarwar get a contract that gives him 600 minutes and unlimited texts (as he does text a lot) and only claim roughly £40. Mr Sarwar could just cost us £40 but instead he rather cost us ...
Okay, not a political story but I made elderflower champagne over the weekend. When I made it last year and posted up the recipe, various people spoke to me afterwards, having read about it on the blog. So inevitably, here comes the video!
I have added a quotes about me section in the sidebar. Anyone got anything they think I should put in there? Preferably amusing, doesn't have to be totally positive. Of course, if you WANT to say that I'm the best blogger since sliced bread... ;) This blog is proudly sponsored by
Fri 19th
10:50
Did you see the reports about the public getting keener to vote in European elections?
No, I didn't either. But the odd thing is, there's plenty of evidence that the public were keener to vote in European electins than previously. The evidence is certainly patchy and incomplete, but the uniformity of the turnout gloom and doom stories seems to me to say rather more about the media's fixed image ('turnout? must be down') than about the actual evidence. The key is to compare like-for-like data. For example, in several parts of England the last European election were run using an all-postal ballot, in which all possible voters were sent a ballot paper that they could ...
{ Judith at Park Wood with Bluebells in Flower }
Lib Dem party president Ros Scott has written a very interesting pamphlet for Unlock Democracy - all about local government. I know what you're thinking - mmm, local democracy, sounds fascinating...just let me watch this paint dry first. But you're wrong. Very wrong. As Ros points out, it's local councils that deal with the things that really matter to people day-to-day. If you knock on doors - for any party - you'll find far more people complaining about the local school that's scheduled to close, or the state of the roads and pavements, or the rubbish collection, than you will ...
Many reading this will know about the craving that I have for a little giggle whilst reading a blog and fortunately they are two blogs that do that Recess Monkey and Sadie's Tavern. So whilst reading Sadie's blog I came across something on W4MP. The paragraphs below is from an article on the site that I found funny and interesting about the blogosphere: The blogosphere, as we all know is neither as important as it thinks it is nor as irrelevant as the mainstream media contends. If you get rung up by a blogger in pursuit of a story, answer ...
I've been told that someone has removed a post designed to prevent vehicles being driven into Park Wood - and has driven a quad bike or a three wheeler into the wood. I have reported it to the Arboriculture Department of Bradford Council's Parks ...
I'm very pleased to say that Reinventing the State: Social Liberalism for the 21st Century has been reprinted with the first print run having sold out. The editors (myself, Duncan Brack and David Howarth) have taken the opportunity to relate the book to recent events by including a new foreword which explains why we think the ideas contained in the book are more relevant than ever. Among other points, we have said: The collapse of the banking system worldwide has revealed the ultimate dependence of what had previously appeared to be free-standing market relationships on straightforwardly state institutions, such as ...
A failed attempt to report the expenses of Mr Prentice by Pendle Today on their website. First of all its the first time in a very long time they have linked back to another website. Please see the first paragraph "THE Government has todat" yet they're meant to be a media outlet. Even Irfan Ahmed's Blog has better spelling then that (just about at least) Media outlets really need to up their game online otherwise I will take all their readers online and gain!
I wouldn't have expected this but a member of the Blogger creation team read this blog and left a comment. Personally I like the work of Rick Klau especially his blog posts for Blogger Buzz so its an honour to have him comment on my blog!
2 Big Stories The MPs' expenses stories rumble on... Yesterday's heavily-redacted publication of expenses claims by Parliament has been widely criticised, not least by our own Vince Cable: The publication of the expenses in this format has only made people even more frustrated. If people had had to rely on this information to find out about their MPs they would have been faced with swathes of black ink rather than information about the flipping of homes and the avoidance of capital gains tax. "It took a huge amount of effort from campaigners, my Liberal Democrat colleagues and other independent-minded MPs ...
A quite extraordinary performance from Falkirk West Labour MP Eric Joyce on Newsnight Scotland last night. He is the biggest expenses claimant among the MPs and he quite clearly doesn't get the anger there is across the country about the issue. In the interview by Gordon Brewer, he sees no problem in hiring as a consultant a man to whom he'd acted as best man at his wedding. When asked why he charged the taxpayer for buying three oil paintings for his constituency office, Joyce's answer was: "Because they look nice". And the most toe-curlingly embarrassing moment was when he ...
PR Week has a piece comparing the online strategies of the UK's three main political parties. With a nod or two towards Obama's use of social media, the article presents a report card on each party, compiled by their panel of experts. Each party is examined on its approach, key players, leader and the involvement of MPs and grassroots. The Conservatives are found to have "attracted the most plaudits so far," while Labour's "command and control mentality" is said to be hampering their efforts. The verdict on the Liberal Democrats is that our "overall understanding of social media is impressive" ...
I am on the train now heading to Victoria for my last day working in Cowley St. I've already had a leaving lunch and a bit of a surprise party with colleagues in the office yesterday. My main leaving do is in July.So, there we are, another life changing decision has been taken and many challenges ahead. And of course the opportunity to wreak as much havoc on Labour in Gateshead as possible!---
I love most sport, but I'm not really a fan of those where the main part is played by a horse, dog, car or motorbike, rather than a human. I do occasionally watch motor sport, but unlike others I wouldn't miss it if it wasn't there. I was therefore doubly impressed with myself for getting an [...]
{f1-future} I'm not normally all that interested in Formula 1 car racing, but the announcement yesterday that 8 of the top teams intend to go off and start their own racing championship has attracted my interest. The issue? A budget cap. In the interest of trying to limit a financial 'arms race' F1 wants to set a budget cap of £40 million. That's certainly an interesting competition in its own right - the test will become how far you can stretch that £40 million. The problem is that 8 of the teams aren't interested in these new rules. They're willing ...
The decision to publish MP expenses with large swathes of black ink is yet another own goal by the Parliamentary establishment. A day that could finally have lanced the boil of this issue by bringing everything into the open has instead created a new wave of resentment and cynicism. Even the most honest MPs look like they are trying to cover things up. Looking at the expense claims that go in, there is virtually nothing that needs to be concealed - I would suggest credit card numbers / bank account details and signatures - not much else. All the rest ...
Many of the pieces written about British political parties and the internet are rather duff because they are written by people who (a) have never run an election in their life, (b) don't like politicians and (c) are extremely keen on the internet. As a result, they tend not to be that well informed or balanced. However, this week's PR Week has put together a good panel that has come up with insightful pieces about the Labour and the Conservative internet presences. (The Liberal Democrats also get a similar write-up, but I'll leave you to judge what to make of ...
The thing which makes me fuming about this redaction business is the cost of it. Going through some MPs' expenses yesterday, great acres of it were more black than white! It must have taken ages for someone to go through all this stuff. And that was after 200 MPs asked for nothing on their expenses to be redacted. The authorities still went ahead. Apparently the whole exercise cost £2 million. So, hang on a minute. We've been ripped off once by MPs claiming for all sorts of nonsense. Now, we're ripped off again to the tune of £2 million to ...
Starting the day in the countryside has its advantages. A cup of tea whilst you listen to the birdsong and Cincinnati takes his morning stroll around the estate and perhaps a dip into 'Today', before making one's way to the station for the 9.12 train to the big city. All very nice. The only problem that I've encountered is getting to the station. It's about three miles to Stowmarket, and there are no buses. And no, that doesn't mean that there are no buses running past the house. There are no buses within a mile of the house, and we're ...
Last night was the first meeting of the new Business Management Overview and Scrutiny sub Committee. Cllr Jack Cohen is the Lib Dem representative on the committee and I went along to watch as he had called in the decision to scrap the site based Sheltered housing warden service. The first meeting was not an auspicious occasion. Jack has a very calm analytical method of questioning both officers and cabinet members and it soon became clear that there were big holes in the proposals to cut the wardens. First up was the admission that no cabinet member had been to ...
Easy way to judge whether or not you are in touch with popular culture: do you recognise the names of all the people of whom your spam folder is offering you nude photos? Related posts:This week's new rule of thumb If your WiThe big international news story of the week The FinancMaggie Clay passes away Very sad n
Well - just shows the Guardian makes wrong assumptions. I see they have me down for being very modest in not claiming the £400 per month that MPs are 'allowed' to claim for food and says that I claimed a very modest five quid for a pasta bake or something. I have news for the Guardian - I have never claimed a penny for food - ever - from Parliament. All the food receipts are for my interns who get travel and lunch expenses. So - don't believe everything you read in the Guardian!
In the new London Review of Books Iain Sinclair reviews Peter Ackroyd's book Thames: Sacred River: Peter Ackroyd begins at source, the first trickle, Cotswold springs. He opens with a Gradgrinding deluge of facts: length, comparison with other rivers, number of bridges, average flow, velocity of current. Then moves rapidly to 'river as metaphor'. So that the two tendencies, the empirical and the poetic, coexist, informing and challenging each other, striking examples found to confirm flights of fancy.And all the time he is walking, from limestone causeway to salt marshes, but keeping the accidents and epiphanies of these private excursions ...
One of the (few!) complaints of living in the Jewellery Quarter is the lack of local shops selling fresh produce. The Tesco Express is good at what it does, but from time to time we all crave fresh fruit & veg, fresh meat and that personal touch. But fear not, for salvation is here! On Saturday 4th July come on down to the square in front of The Big Peg (click for map) for the launch of the Jewellery Quarter Farmers Market, called (of course) 24 Carrots. The market was the brainchild of a local resident and has been driven ...
@marshallmanson I had great fun doing a set of training recently without PowerPoint. Good way of forcing yourself to think! in reply to marshallmanson # Will Carter's departure result in the Digital Britain report being mothballed? http://bit.ly/2lsaKm # RT @helenduffett: Blogged - How to opt out of the mobile phone directory: http://bit.ly/2e4vU4 # 4 Reasons To Shorten URLs On Twitter With Bit.ly - http://shar.es/gA43 # @rand0m Thanks for the FF inclusion. in reply to rand0m # Ready your wireless for Sunday evening. I should be appearing on Radio 4's The Westminster Hour, some time after 10pm. # @alexfoster I'm post-modern ...
@marshallmanson I had great fun doing a set of training recently without PowerPoint. Good way of forcing yourself to think! in reply to marshallmanson # Will Carter's departure result in the Digital Britain report being mothballed? http://bit.ly/2lsaKm # RT @helenduffett: Blogged - How to opt out of the mobile phone directory: http://bit.ly/2e4vU4 # 4 Reasons To Shorten URLs On Twitter With Bit.ly - http://shar.es/gA43 # @rand0m Thanks for the FF inclusion. in reply to rand0m # Ready your wireless for Sunday evening. I should be appearing on Radio 4's The Westminster Hour, some time after 10pm. # @alexfoster I'm post-modern ...
Somebody mentioned to me last night in light of my football clubs failure to pay the electricity bill that if Jim Devine does call a second Livingston by election there may be a repeat of the Hamilton South by election. In that election there was a Save the Accies candidate in the current climate there could be a Save the Lions by election candidate. Now I largely keep my football and political lives separate however my football supporting live does often allow me the chance to talk to councillors from both the Labour and SNP sides of West Lothian council ...
Dwylo Cerrig asks what the future holds for Welsh-medium education and should the Welsh Lib Dems follow a different policy path on the issue. There is a Welsh policy issue where the meat and veg goes beyond constitutional willy-waving. As difficult a concept as that may be for Lib Dems to accept (is Senedd-Westminster ping-pong and LCO breadth vs. depth really not the be all and end all?!); the government's consultation on the Welsh medium education strategy will be of longer lasting impact that the language LCO. The hype and bluster surrounding the LCO and its parliamentary process will more ...
{Wreath} No related posts.
There are certain things that I can accept should have been redacted with the publications of MPs expenses: The personal details of staff members, their addresses, bank details etcI'd also by the same score accept account details of the MPs themselves for their banks and services.Signatures also as this could lead to fraud. Although I did notice Michael Connarty's familiar looping Y was always peaking out from under this redactions.However, there appears to be a lot that has been left out. The names and locations of where things were purchased.The detailing of what is on the receipt. I know that ...
I'm about to migrate this blog to Wordpress. Just need to do a little bit more tweaking but in the meantime here is a sneak peek of the new look etc.
Great story from today's Independent The weirdest: Batman Airport (BAL) Turkey Deadhorse Airport (SCC), USA Eek Airport (EEK), USA Moron Airport (OZP), Spain Ogle Airport (OGL), Guyana Useless Loop Airport (USL), Australia The rudest (warning - language may offend): Brest Airport (BES), France Fak Fak Airport (FKQ), Indonesia Fort Dix Airport (WRI), USA Fukui Airport (FKJ), Japan Pratt Airport (PTT), USA Shafter Airport (MIT), USA The scariest... Asbestos Hill Airport (YAF), Canada Crooked Island Airport (CRI), Canada Danger Bay Airport (DGB), USA Deception Airport (YGY), Canada Mafia Airport (MFA), Tanzania Rifle Airport (IRD), USA And finally, a little fun with ...
I'm just so incredibly desperate to break the writer's block I'm going to keep a jokey promise I made to Debi Linton a week ago. The promise was to write about mug bonding. You know, the phenomenon where a mug - which is at the end of the day is nothing more than an inanimate receptacle - ends up becoming something precious and personal. Why do we bond with mugs in this way? Why is there such an appalling taboo against using other people's mugs? I mean, if it's clean it's clean... is there some Darwinian advantage to establishing a ...
The list published online in my opinion is a farce. Valuable information has been blanked out, such as where the MP buys the goods from etc. I think that in order to get rid of this mess about second homes the government need to make parliament lodges. (Just like student halls, whereby they themselves get the building decorated yearly). I was shocked to learn that some MPs had made a monthly habit of a 'petty cash claim' such as Shahid Malik and Alan Duncan. I think this is very immoral as they are just lining their own pockets. I think ...
Hazel Blears the former communities Secretary has today survived a confidence motion at a meeting of her local party. There were some 30 protesters outside calling for her "to go," but she survived and fights on. This motion came from probably anger that she quit the government on the eve of polls, and also the recent MP's Expenses scandal. Organiser Stephen Kingston told the BBC "I was collecting signatures in Salford precinct earlier today. In the space of an hour-and-a-half we had 250 signatures backing the call that she must go." Full story available here.
How tragic to see the hunted faces of the 100 Romanians being chased out of their homes in Belfast, by gangs of hooligans. What was doubly horrible was that it was obvious that these people were Roma and so visibly dark-skinned. You would have ...
Dear Mr Khalid Mahmood,
