In foul mood today after heavy working weekend. Have vented by being rude/angry to two cold-call salesmen. One asked for it, one didn't {:o} ( # Good stuff from MySociety on the Govt and what it fails to understand about the web: http://bit.ly/iIkg9 Should be compulsory reading. # Right. I might just feel ready to face the day now. Anything interesting going on? # Adaptive CSS-Layouts: New Era In Fluid Layouts? | Smashing Magazine http://bit.ly/1btmOD [Scary amount to take in here, but all good stuff] # Marvelling at idiocy of a Twitter user flogging sales leads who thinks my rant ...
Congratulations to John Bercow on becoming the new Speaker of the House of Commons. Lets hope he is bold enough to push through the changes needed to Parliament to start the long process of restoring trust in democracy. However it seems many in the Tory ranks are not happy. As Bercow was being dragged to his fancy new chair, their faces were like smacked backsides. He may be a Conservative MP, but Bercow is apparently not the right type of Conservative MP. Despite this lack of support from his own party, Bercow won a clear majority with a margin of ...
I am sure that large numbers of political anoraks are delighted by the unveiling of the new Conservative-led group in the European Parliament... It is, of course, a total joke. The Tory allies consist of the most marginal and irrelevant parties in the EU. They could not even get Bulgarians to join them.Their major allies are the PiS- Law and Justice party- in Poland: led by a man who proudly admits to not having a bank account, just before he says he would like to send gay men, like Alan Duncan and Iain Dale to jail, but only because he ...
Holding the Mayor to account is about all that members of the Great London Assembly (GLA) can do, but that role is itself essential in a system in which the anointed one (Boris Johnson for the moment) has a great deal of power and an ability to accrue even more. Assiduous Assembly members can indeed [...]
So John Bercow is now the Speaker of the House of Commons. I am still unsure whether they have made the right choice but he could do a few things in his early days to help answer that question. The first thing he should do is make Gordon Brown actually answer the questions at PMQs. For far too long we have had to put up with either blatant side-stepping usually involving a variation on accusing the questioner of not asking important questions of policy. And then when questions on policy are asked we uaually get a load of tractor manufacturing ...
Ian Clement, the deputy mayor of London, resigned today following the misuse of his corporate credit card. Ian Clement is the third of Boris Johnson's deputy mayors to resign or be pushed since Johnson came to office in May 2008. From the Guardian: The mayor's office announced that Clement, the deputy mayor for government and external relations, resigned earlier today following the discovery of further "discrepancies" less than a week after published receipts detailed how Clement had used the card for personal items over a matter of months. The exact nature of the "discrepancies" have not been made public. But ...
The Community Music Festival was so successful last time that this year's Festival will stretch over two days, Sat 27th and Sun 28th June. Saturday 1pm to 9pm - Local bands and groups of all sorts. Sunday 10.30am to 2pm - Praise in the Park - a joint Yate and Sodbury Churches celebration. Hymns in the park, followed by a puppet show and treasure hunt. Sunday 3pm to 5pm - Picnic in the Park - bring a picnic, sit back, and chill out listening to the Phil Dando Big Band. And there's more - face-painting, bouncy castle, fairground rides, craft ...
{PD*4568006} Following the election of John Bercow as Speaker, with the vast majority of his 322 votes coming from Labour MPs, it's worth considering the likely reaction of voters in Buckingham. This is a seat about as rock solid Tory as they come. The result in 2005 was: Bercow J.S.* Conservative 27,748 57.44% Greene D.M. Labour 9,619 19.91% Croydon L.J. LibDem 9,508 19.68% Williams D.J. UKIP 1,432 2.96% Assuming that the three main parties observe the protocol of not standing against The Speaker, this looks like a great opportunity for someone running as an Independent or possibly as an Independent ...
Bankers must have heaved a glutinous sigh of relief when the MPs' expenses row came along and took the spotlight off them. But, swings and roundabouts, as soon as the MPs get their heftily holed ship just about on an even keel again, bankers go and put themselves back in the spotlight. And it doesn't look as if they've changed a bit. It looks to me as if noses are still well in troughs, and the troughs are still gargantuan. RBS will be paying Stephen Hester close to £10 million if he gets things right. Getting it right will involve ...
John Bercow's acceptance speech was as reassuring as it was eloquent. Reassuring, as it is clear that he will be a reformer and reform is what the House of Commons needs. And eloquence is what he'll need to bring the opposing forces to a conclusion on reform and to communicate that conclusion to the public.I voted for Alan Beith in the first two ballots as he is a straight man who would have been fair. But when Alan dropped out I voted for John who represented a new generation.I don't envy his task but he has the talent to deliver. ...
In the last week we've launched our successful Stroud Green Parking & Travel Survey online - and had almost 100 responses in the first few days. Added together with all the responses we've had door-to-door, this means we are beginning to get a good sample of what residents think about parking issues on different roads. However, we still want to hear more views, so if you haven't had chance yet please do complete the survey now. It can be accessed here and only takes a few minutes to fill in all the questions. In a few weeks time we will ...
If you have the chance, you can listen live to BBC Radio 4's 'The Age of Ming' tomorrow, Tuesday, at 11 am. If you don't have the chance, there's always Listen Again. Here's the BBC online article: Sir Menzies Campbell lasted less than two years as leader of the Liberal Democrats. Many believe he was hounded out of office by a media obsessed with his age and appearance. The former Olympic athlete protests that, after his admittedly shaky start in the Commons, views were formed in the press that never wavered. His background should have been an image-maker's dream: born ...
Here's the email which has gone out to party members today: Seasoned conference-goers might have been expecting the Preliminary Agenda for the autumn conference in Bournemouth to have arrived by now. Well, it hasn't – because conference last year agreed a set of sweeping changes to the timetable for submitting motions for debate. They're designed to make it easier for local parties and conference reps to submit motions and amendments, and to increase your chance of having a say in party policy. The old series of three deadlines for submitting motions has been replaced by two, and we've scrapped the ...
So, what sort of paint is best to use on a canvas that has to be rolled up? Like, f'r'instance, a roller blind? Instinct says acrylic, but might that crack?
Mon 22nd
21:38
Babysitter 'battered tot to death' What have we become when this sort of thing happens.
Neal Keeling Manchester evening news June 22, 2009 A TODDLER was battered to death by a 15-year-old babysitter, a court was told. Demi Leigh Mahon, aged two, had 68 different areas of injury to her body. It is alleged that the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, kicked, punched and bit the child while looking [...]
Colin Bean, best known for playing Private Sponge in Dad's Army, has died in Wigan at the age of 82.
Former Belgian PM Guy Verhofstadt, in the running to lead the Liberals and Democrats group (ALDE) in the European Parliament, and his campaign manager UK Lib Dem MEP Andrew Duff make no secret of their desire to see a 'federal Europe'. Andrew Duff has spoken and written on the subject over many years and is [...]
Friday, June 19, 2009 Salford Labour – doh! Salford Labour Party have decided to commit electoral suicide by allowing Hazel Blears to continue as their Parliamentary candidate, 31 to 13. I have to say I don't think this was wise of them. If you look at the last Parliamentary election in 2005 there was a very low [...]
So John Bercow is the new Speaker after winning by 322 votes to 271 for Sir George Young, a healthy margin, much more so than the 5 that Tom Harris had tweeted a few minutes before and I immediately re-tweeted to everyone. I'm not going to slag him, though - it was good of him to share, in good faith, information that he could have kept to himself. Anyway, as you know I was none to impressed with Bercow's effort earlier this afternoon, but I found myself warming to him when he was dragged to the Speaker's Chair by, among ...
I don't wish to be churlish and I have absolutely no axe to grind with the Speaker-elect but the picture of him on the BBC website is so reminiscent of the character invented by Kenneth Grahame that it would be wrong - simply wrong - not to refer to him as Mr Toad. So we've gone from 'Udder, udder' to 'Poop Poop' which, in the circumstances, seems quite appropriate. Best of all, Margaret a-Beckett and Ann Widdespoons did not win. That's not sexism, by the way, that's a heartfelt sigh of relief. I look forward to the next Private Eye, ...
The real motive power behind fascism isn't racism or monopoly power or any of the other aspects that scare us about the BNP. Those things will never inspire the nation - or not our nation anyway. The power lies in its romanticism. Fine within limits, but when the authoritarians team up with the romantics, the imperialist dreamers, the folk historians and the cultural snobs, then you've got trouble. I believe that is why the European nations which dumped their empires and their monarchies during the 20th century nearly all flirted with fascism at some point. Monarchies are safe conduits for ...
Many reading this will know of the relationship that I created between myself and Mr Alan Dunan MP the first time we met so when I was on Tom Harris' blog and read "Alan Duncan: The Most Misunderstood man in British Politics" I was amused. Either I met Mr Duncan's clone that day or Total Politics have got it wrong?
Michael Martin's replacement as Speaker has been elected with a secret ballot and its a gentleman called John Bercow who is the Tory MP for Buckingham and I would like to congratulate him on behalf of Irfan Ahmed's Blog for becoming the Speaker and lets hope he can bring reform to the Commons. The Conservatives had said that they would have sacked the Speaker if it had been a Labour MP if they won at the next general election. That is *if* which they need to always remember because Labour could always secure a historic fourth term. But this is ...
Most Labour MPs would rather vote for a former secretary of the Monday club's immigration and repatriation committee than for an Old Etonian.
Final result announced 8.30 pm: John Bercow: 322 Sir George Young: 271 Read Speaker Bercow's manifesto HERE.
The news of the death of two British hostages in Iraq is terribly sad, but views expressed today about the "lack of effort" from the British government seem wide of the mark in my view. I have read and heard that the Foreign Office are expending more energy on this hostages situation than they ever have on any previous hostage situation. But if the government are being criticised for refusing to pay a ransom of do the "continental" thing and simply give in to terrorist demands, then I, for one, stand right with the British government. The British line on ...
The Town Council is proposing developments to Grammers Park - the area off Moorland Road. These will include new play facilities aimed at 8-13 year olds. They are also looking to create up to 20 new allotments on the middle part of the park. Without having yet seen the plans, these ideas seem like a huge step in the right direction. Although play facilities for young children are sadly outdated in Launceston, they do, at least, exist. Play facilities for those young people aged 8-13 are almost totally non-existent and this could be a huge step in the right direction. ...
It seems that there might be some light at the end of the tunnel as Chairman of the Iraq inquiry Sir John Chilcot has said it is "essential" as much as possible is held in public. Sir John seems to have got to Gordon Brown who had insisted the the inquiry was held in Private. To read the full story follow the link HERE
Here is the first Labour leaflet going out in Norwich North. Apparently if the Tories get in the world will come to an end !
Tim Montgomerie has a post on Conservative Home which describes the mood of the Parliamentary Conservative Party as being 'grim'. He explains; "MPs' are angry on many levels. At the heart of their concerns is equity. They don't think that all MPs are being treated the same. There is, for example, a lot of sympathy for [...]
After visiting Rushton Triangular Lodge, I explored the village of Rushton itself. The bridleway heading off towards Kettering was so inviting that I had to take that too. On the way I met these delightful creatures. I think they are alpacas, shorn for the summer.
We have just the one planning application tis wekk and that is for the remodelling of existing external first floor pergola to form second floor external terrace at Cleeve Court Care Home Cleeve Green. The aplication was first registered on 26th May 2009 and has a decission date of 21st July 2009. The application reffernce number is 09/01628/REG03 and you can view the application by...
The Conservatives have finally unveiled the other members of their new grouping in the European Parliament and it seems that initial suspicions that they would marginalise themselves by their choices and reduce their and Britain's influence have been confirmed. The full list of parties is: Belgium: Lijst Dedecker (LDD), one MEP Czech Republic: Civic Democratic party (ODS), nine MEPs Finland: the Centre party (Keskusta) sits in the Liberal (ALDE) group but one of its MEPs is now joining the Tories' new group Hungary: Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF), one MEP Latvia: Latvian National Independence Movement (TB/LNNK), one MEP Netherlands: Christian Union ...
Do you think it's right that some Councils and Governments put women in cabinet positions purely to make up the numbers and look good with the women lib brigade, not my view of course.
Source Salford online by Professor David Gregg Here we all are ready to lynch Labour MPs and ministers like Hazel Blears for 'stealing' our tax money but we ignore the theft of something much more valuable. For twelve years this government has systematically stolen our ancient legal protections while building a state surveillance infrastructure [...]
Mon 22nd
19:06I think we need to look into how we treat people with a disability, i think we are falling short of ...
Housing staff get a new view of disability <!–Last Updated – 21st June 2009 at 01:01 PM –> Perhaps a few Salford council departments would like to try this? Hereford–based housing staff have stepped into the shoes of disabled customers to gain a better understanding of their needs at a special event. Disability Awareness Day (DAD) [...]
I have decided to publish an account of the events that took place during the local Election campaign during June 2009. First off censored in the fashion of publishing true records in the House of Commons. D R and P . Sue G y sad, indeed. The first leaf printed by , confused , gypsy petition The second leaf potholes why? Well, it was everyone should get . Meanwhile, R . This was not . Next, lovely and sunny. Actually this meeting was dog barking even more signatures NP candidate. Hemel . Thanks, Colin! trees door knocking voting. litter . ...
2nd round ballot result announced 7.00 pm: John Bercow 221 Sir George Young 174 Margaret Beckett 70 Sir Alan Haselhurst 57 Sir Alan Beith 46 Ann Widdecombe 30 – ELIMINATED With Beckett, Haslehurst and Beith having all seen their votes decline between rounds one and two, it would seem sensible for all three to withdraw to allow the clear two-horse race to be settled promptly. Let's see if that happens... Update: it will be a straight run-off between Bercow and Young.
So, it looks like its down to two: John Bercow 221 so far, and George Young 174; roughly 200 votes up for grabs; if they split 40:60 Bercow:Young (as happened in the last round of transfers) it would end up Bercow 301, Young 294 or thereabouts - incredibly close! In a way that would be a shame, as we could do with a Speaker who can clearly unite the House. PS All the other remaining candidates have now dropped out
The demise of democracy in Salford has begun <!–Last Updated – 21st June 2009 at 02:54 PM –> On Thursday evening the Salford branch of the Labour Party, represented on the night by just 44 delegates, voted to continue their backing of our disgraced local MP, the dis-honoured Hazel Blears. On that night, those [...]
Courtesy of the Guardian, John Bercow has named his nominators. Notably only one Tory graces the list: Dai Davies Charles Walker Malcolm Bruce Adam Price Karen Buck Sandra Gidley Julie Morgan Natascha Engel Peter Kilfoyle David Laws Anne Begg Pete Wishart Sadiq Khan Patricia Hewitt Mark Durkan Hmm, I'm sure David has his reasons... Notably, Malcolm Bruce (panelist of Liberal Vision's second ever conference event) and Sandra Gidley make up the Lib Dem contingent.
{bercow} A brief observation for our passing Tories: If we had First Past The Post for this election, Bercow would have already won (!) Ooomph!
Facebook is something that will always be the leading technology that a campaigner should use to campaign using the Internet for a campaign and I shall talk about some of the ways below. First of all if a user doesn't have a massive budget, isn't a web guru or has never created anything apart from maybe a blog then this is something that you need to read. All you need to do is get yourself a Content Management Software, a domain and you have cracked it. The campaigners will need to create a community in order for the campaign to ...
Despite opposing such a system for their own election, I note that MPs are using, essentially, Single Transferable Vote for the election of their new Speaker. OK. It's not STV. But it's sort of STV with flock instinct and extra faffing about thrown in. Goodness knows why they don't just go the whole hog and use STV. But no, they have to have rounds and physical eliminations and print new ballot papers and spend hours doing it with the electorate walking in and out several times. What numpties! The only reason I can see to do the vote in rounds ...
"Redaction" is a slippery word. I associate it with Bush and Blair and other dodgy neologisms such as "special rendition" for state sponsored kidnapping. Redaction is just a fancy word for censorship and we should say so. Looking at MP receipts on-line and seeing all those blacked-out details is genuinely shocking. This is public money being spent and apart from a very few exceptions I just don't buy it that MPs' security is being compromised by making their home addresses public. I live at 6 Hobbs Hill in Welwyn. Previously I lived at various addresses in St Albans: 4 Dorcas ...
Not had much time to blog until now and I am a bit overwhelmed at how quickly the news agenda is moving. So here are a couple of quick points whilst I wait for the outcome of the second ballot for Speaker of the House of Commons: 1. Pressure to hold the Iraq War Inquiry in public appears to be having an impact. According to the Guardian Ed Balls has said that it would be a "good thing" to hold some of the Iraq war inquiry in public, whilst the Justice Secretary, Jack Straw has also indicated that he would ...
Dear God Neil, you're a broken record. Nobody believes your insane ramblings. Accept that fact. Ruaraidh
News from the BBC that the first round of counting has brought up the following results but with no candidate getting 50% of the vote another count will take place: Mr Bercow received 179 votesTory Sir George Young was second with 112 votesLabour's Margaret Beckett was third with 74 votes of the 594 castAt least four candidates received fewer than 5% and will be knocked outThe candidate with the fewest votes was current deputy Speaker Sir Michael Lord, with nine.Ann Widdecombe with 44 votesSir Alan Beith with 55 voteSir Alan Haselhurst with 66 votes all decided to fight on
All liberals should mourn Lord Ralf Dahrendorf, who died on 17 June 2009. We owe him a great deal for his contributions to modern liberal thought, which were based upon a profound belief in "the elementary desire to be free" which he saw as "the force behind all liberties, old and new." Lord Dahrendorf mapped out an approach to social progress that was distinctively liberal. He combined an understanding of the importance of markets with a deep concern for social justice and a basic equality of 'life chances'. The latter concept was essential to his thinking. Dahrendorf perceived life chances ...
On the basis of the first round results, it would appear that the identity of the next Speaker depends on how the LibDem MPs split between Bercow and Young in the later rounds (assuming most of them voted for Alan Beith in the first round). Power at last - let's hope it's used wisely...
A few very brief words from the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party as mediated by twitter: PaulRowen Waiting to vote in the next round of the Speaker's election, Beckett, Bercow, Haselhurst, Widdecombe and Young all still standing joswinson Beckett, Beith, Bercow, Haselhurst, Widdecombe and Young all standing for next round #newspeaker joswinson Bercow 179, Young 112, Beckett 74 – Shepherd, Cormack, Lord and sadly Dhanda all out #newspeaker SandraGidley Pleased that J B won 1st round but how will it change after re allocation of votes. Not over til fat lady stops voting SandraGidley Then we will have to wait for ...
Bloody hell, MPs. Parmjit Dhanda as I said earlier wasn't perfect, but he gave a fantastic speech - talking of taking Parliament round the country, being modern and inclusive and giving power away. Surely to goodness he deserved more than 26 votes. I can't believe it. Actually I can. Bunch of middle aged reactionaries! He should not have been ousted so early on. This is such a good argument for STV and preferential voting as I think he'd have picked up a lot of second preferences. James Graham has just done a fabulous tweet saying:The MPs could be in the ...
Following a recent High Court ruling allowing ex-servicemen who took part in nuclear tests in the 1950s to sue the Government for damages, it is expected that the Government will soon be faced with a large class action suit. Despite other countries that exposed their ex-servicemen to nuclear testing having long since compensated those who became ill, the MoD continues to drag its feet and is now arguing that claims have come too long after the event. Benjamin Browne QC, representing 1000 ex-servicemen, has argued that: "Time and again, representatives of the government have said that the veterans must wait ...
Today saw the first confirmed case of Swine Flu in Wolverhampton - Bilston to be precise.
Results of round 1: John Bercow 179 George Young 112 Margaret Beckett 74 Alan Haselhurst 66 Alan Beith 55 Ann Widdecombe 44 Eliminated are: Parmjit Dhanda (26), Richard Shepherd (15), Patrick Cormack (13) and Michael Lord (9) We now have ten minutes to see if anyone drops out, otherwise a second round of voting. [PS Do I get a bonus point for correctly predicting the first four to drop out??]
The winning post is 296. Beckett 74, Beith 55 , Bercow 179, Cormack 13 , Dhanda 26 , Haselhurst 66 , Lord 9, Shepherd 15, Widdecombe 44, Young 112, Spoilt ballots 1 Please can every right-thinking MP now switch their vote to George Young? It's now a staright race between him and Bercow (although Beckett, Beith, Haselhurst and Widdecombe have not been formally eliminated)
1st round ballot result announced 5.10 pm: John Bercow 179 Sir George Young 112 Margaret Beckett 74 Sir Alan Haselhurst 66 Sir Alan Beith 55 Ann Widdecombe 44 Parmjit Dhanda 26 – ELIMINATED Richard Shepherd 15 – ELIMINATED Sir Patrick Cormack 13 – ELIMINATED Sir Michael Lord 9 – ELIMINATED It looks like John Bercow might be pretty unstoppable, unless enough MPs unite behind Sir George Young. Credibtable performance by Sir Alan Beith, finishing fifth and ahead of Ann Widdecombe.
My MSP colleague Jim Tolson and I joined Terry Fowler from the Royal British Legion to officially raise the special Armed Forces Day flag at the City Chambers in Dunfermline today. Armed Forces Day is an opportunity to salute the men and women of our armed forces both present and past. Thanks to many factors including the war in Iraq there has been a fear that the reputation of our armed forces has suffered. Hence the reason that Labour established the special day. Yet I think the reputation of the armed forces remains strong and it is the Labour Government ...
I am an IT student at the moment and will want to go further into ICT and my hope is to become a Network Technician but the problem that I am having is learning the skills to do that job. The BTEC National Diploma in ICT that I study doesn't have any teaching of the skills and neither according to sources does any Course at University because a lecture isn't going to teach me how to use a network, set one up and support the running of one. So what do I do? I look for voluntary work experience to ...
One of the jobs of a back-bench or opposition councillor is to attend scrutiny meetings which examine and comment upon council policies and decisions. I sit upon the Corporate Issues scrutiny committee and have just come out of a two and a half hour meeting of that committee. Today we discussed the council's job evaluation scheme [...]
I am on the Eurostar having just arrived on the UK side of the Tunnel. A pleasant trip and a bag full of digital photos and videos to sort.Sitting down to have a sandwich for lunch shortly before leaving Paris, and looking at the messages I sent on my blackberry, I spotted a dreadful typo in my blog post yesterday about Labour MP Doug Henderson. I wrote about his being "burghered" (as in the
I'm a Liberal Democrat. Now I've been one for a while, but I'm concerned its taking over my life. I seem to have two options, try and get some sort of a cream for it or to go back to the pub and argue policy minutiae over beer. It'll almost certainly be the latter. I [...]
Iain Dale kindly makes the point that I would have been a strong candidate for the Norwich North seat whilst also taking a swipe, possibly, depending on your arguments some justification, at the problems the Lib Dems in Norwich North may have created in selecting April Pond as the candidate for the forthcoming parliamentary by-election. Now I am not going to provide quotes to be used on Tory election leaflets across Broadland, so I will show a degree of restraint not always seen on this blog, but I was somewhat surprised to see that having been selected for the target ...
Just come from the House of Commons where we've just heard from the ten candidates for Speaker. We have until about ten past four to vote then they reckon it will take about an hour to count the first round of votes. The bottom candidate plus anyone with less than five per cent of the poll has to drop out, plus anyone who realises they don't have much support. We could easily drop to four candidates in round two. I should declare that I have nominated Alan Beith, so I'm not impartial! Alan is a decent man, not a member ...
Nice to hear Parmjit Dhanda, who is a genuinely novel voice in the Speaker election. He speaks with passion and conviction but his ideas just won't wash. He has proposed allowing voters to suggest subjects for debate using Facebook and Twitter. So that's the House meeting under his Speakership to consider repatriation for Asians. I'm not sure that's what he has got in mind but that's what would happen. There are too many groups out there with the wherewithal to hijack the issue. How long would it be before we had the 'Bono Debate on Global Poverty' as one of ...
Beckett - deeply uninspiring and already so many reasons not to vote for her. No way. Beith - My first choice - real reformer, means what he says, one of only two to bother about mentioning diversity. Widdecombe - assured, confident, but very very scary. I know house needs shaking up, but if she's going to deliver a short sharp shock and then disappear at election, then I'm not keen. I mean, I was struck by the thought that the Tory approach to youth justice, ie lock em up and teach them a lesson, just increases reoffending. Dhanda - What ...
Listening to the speeches of the hopefuls for Speaker what is interesting is how seriously they take themselves, how deeply they feel the hurt their constituents have experienced, how committed they all are to reforming the House and how they plan to walk barefoot to Canterbury. This may be the clearest pointer to the very heart of the matter. The absolute bottom line is that the overwhelming majority of people don't give two hoots about how the House works, merely that it works. Similarly, I would suggest that most people don't actually think that buying a duck island is an ...
Do I look bovvered? Well, do I? Let's face it, the problems of the political class in this country will not be solved by one person in a funny get up however many reform committees they chair. Representative democracy is the problem. The state itself. The sooner they go home for their long vacations, and we get to put padlocks on the doors so they can't get back in to continue screwing up our country and our lives the better we will all be for it. Anyone who thinks the system can be fixed, even with major surgery, is missing ...
Funny how the Gnats continually insist that Scotland can survive on its own - but then moan about wanting more dosh from Westminster when it suits them. That appears to be the case with Scottish Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon's call for £100m to vaccinate everyone in Scotland against swine flu. There are two reasons why Westminster should tell Nicola to take a running jump. Firstly, I don't see why everyone in Scotland needs vaccinating against a disease which has killed precisely one person in this country, someone who appears to have also had complicating health issues. From what I can ...
{finland-ecr1} {latvia-ecr} {uk-ecr} {belgium-ecr} {dutch-ecr} {czech-ecr} {hungary-ecr} {poland-ecr} Cameron's Tories have found a collection of people to sit with in the European Parliament, but will now be in a group that is smaller - and considerably more marginalised - than the ALDE group headed up by LibDem MEP Graham Watson. There are two hurdles in forming a recognised group in the European Parliament - to have at least 25 MEPs and to have representation in seven member states. The first of these is simplicity for the Conservatives (they have 26 MEPs of their own), but they have limped over the ...
I am indebted to Stephen Glenn ( stephen_glenn_feed) for his masterful summary of the running order for today:The timetable of events today is:9:30 Candidates have an hour to submit their nomination papers with 12-15 signatories (at least 3 from outside their party) 11:00 Names will be published around Parliament and on their website 14:30 Father of the House Alan Williams will preside over the speeches of the candidates Approx 16:30 The voting takes place. There are 30 minutes for MPs to cast their vote in each round. Any candidate getting less than 5% or who comes last is eliminated. New ...
It has been a tumultuous time for politics and, although it may seem an age ago, it is in fact less than a month since a brave Nick Clegg rose during Prime Miniuster's Questions to pronounce that Labour was finished. Unsurprisingly, the quip prompted howls of laughter and jeers of derision from the Labour benches, but it certainly struck a chord with the news editors. The soundbite was replayed over and over again on the rolling news channels, guaranteeing maximum exposure for Clegg and reinforcing the message that Labour was under siege. The results which followed in the local and ...
Here is my comment on the resignation of Ian Clement on my PPC website:In welcoming the resignation of Ian Clement as Deputy Mayor to Boris Johnson, Duncan Borrowman the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Old Bexley and Sidcup says: "I welcome his resignation. Those who said he had returned the money were missing the point. Just because a shoplifter gives the goods back doesn't mean you
If you are a member of the fascist party and want to become a teacher or currently teach should you be able to continue doing this as a job? I don't think BNP's should be allowed to teach because they could create racial hatred in the minds of the students they teach which could have a negative affect on society. I write this from the opinion of a student who has a political opinion which a lot of students fail to have and having a BNP teaching them will have a large affect on their political opinion and the teacher ...
{18-19 Caroline St could become a live/work unit} A planning application for change of use at 18-19 Caroline Street is currently open for comment. The former jewellers workshops, just 150m from St Paul's Square, have been vacant for over two years and are in a poor state of repair. The applicant wants to set up a photography studio on the ground floor and make other units available to the creative industries. The first floor would be refurbished to allow the applicant to live above the units. Some internal structural changes have been proposed. The building occupies a prominent place on ...
I went to Africa Oye at Sefton Park this weekend. Its a great festival. What I hadn't realised it it is apparently the largest festival of African music in the UK. Apart from the great music I also managed to do a bit of shopping from the stalls. If you haven't been to this before, do make a date for next year as its fantasic (even when the weather isn't that great)
9.30am: Nominations opened. Each nomination must have a minimum of 12 signatories and a maximum of 15. Three of the signatories must be from parties other than that of the candidate. 10.30am: Nominations closed. 11am: List of Candidates was published. 11.30am: Father of the House Alan Williams draws lots to decide the order of the statements. 2.30pm: The House sits. The Prime Minster announces that he has received leave from the Queen for the House to elect a new Speaker. Mr Williams invites all candidates to address the House in the order of the draw. Candidates will be allowed to ...
Although I'm happy to be persuaded otherwise it's both anyone but Beckett and a big tick for Anne Widdicombe and Richard Shepherd. Anne as Speaker and Richard as deputy would make my day. Anne would command respect with voters which is crucially important as they'll listen to what she has to say when she says things [...]
Profuse apologies but recent amusing stories about Kirk Douglas led me to this pointless posting on the back of the recent one by 'Mark Reckons' on the Lib Dem blogs aggregator.
A few weeks ago I wrote about my support for Frank Field to be the next Speaker, but at that time there were a few other names being touted who could have been pretty radical and anti-establishment. Now just an hour and a half before voting starts the line-up looks pretty uninspiring and is a [...]
The Tories have kept one Euro election promise - they have managed to form a new group in the European Parliament with the rag, tag and bobtail of social reactionaries across the continent. The thing that binds these parties together is an ideological, dogmatic approach to Europe. They would rather member states preserved isolation at all costs rather than work together on the issues where it is both practical and sensible to do so - in financial regulation, crime and climate change being examples that spring to mind. For all that David Cameron tries to make out that the Tories ...
There are a number of other bloggers (e.g. Bernard Salmon, Stephen Glenn and Caron Lindsay as well as others on this Lib Dem Voice thread) who have pointed out that Margaret Beckett, were she to be elected Speaker of the House of Commons today would be the worst of all worlds. She is an establishment figure who is far too closely associated with the government and would do nowhere near enough to refom parliament. MPs today have a once in a political generation to do the right thing and elect somebody who will truly reform the House. Margaret Beckett is ...
It is that time of year again when the National Lottery singles out some of the exceptional projects that it has funded and asks people to vote on the best of them. Already I am getting e-mails from the shortlisted candidates asking me for my vote and to spread the word about their good cause. I will most probably resist the temptation but with one exception and that is Gofal Cymru's Community Crisis House. This scheme is pioneering an alternative to hospital admission for people in mental health crisis. It is an important element in the recovery model of mental ...
Following on from what I was saying yesterday I was interested in this story in the Evening Standard . It reports that Conservtive MP's will try to oust the new Speaker after the next election; "A group of Conservative MPs warned that they will not accept either Margaret Beckett or John Bercow as permanent Speaker, saying both [...]
It's difficult to get excited by today's contest for a new Speaker. There was a brief flicker of excitement that things might change, but no, it looks - and I hope to be proved wrong - that Establishment stitch-ups are smothering the cleaning-up of Parliament all over again. We're almost a quarter of the way into the hundred days that Nick Clegg timetabled for a reform programme to take back power, and bugger all's been done. Worse, what's the smart money on by the end of the day? Speaker Bloody Beckett. Give me strength. How has it come to this? ...
{the-shield} {the-wire} Liberal Vision doesn't do commerical advertising (yet), but if we did, we'd offer a huge discount to promote these two top quality products. Arguably the best television drama productions of the last few years, The Wire and The Shield are both ultra-gritty, unalloyed cop dramas exposing the catastrophic levels of bureaurcratic corruption in a largely futile battle against violent crime. The Wire follows - across its five seasons - the drugs war in the public housing projects of Baltimore, the corruption of the trade unions, the catastrophes of the state eduction system, the sleaze in the mayor's office ...
A fairly quiet week this week compared to the fallout from the Euro elections last week, but still plenty to write about! Tom Bodden of the Daily Post has highlighted Ann Jones' campaign on the use of tips to make up the minimum wage by several restaurants that have premises in Cardiff Bay. Apparently the chain Tragus, which includes Café Rouge, Strada and Bella Italia uses tips paid on credit cards to subsidise staff pay. As a result of this I have already encouraged some Lib Dem staff not to visit these places, an argument that has been made far ...
Monday: Today we are electing a new Mr Speaker of the House of Conmens, and the prospects for reform do not look good. Apparently, the favourite with the bookies, appropriately enough, is former Grand National runner-up Mrs Bucket. With her track record of being non-partisan only SLIGHTLY marred by a brief FIFTY-YEAR stint as a Tribal High Priestess and one-time Acting Leader of Hard Labour, and her anti-establishment credentials, only MARGINALLY undermined by being stuffed so far up the establishment's fluffy bottom that she reached the post of Secretary of State for Foreign Caravanning, she would be a TOTAL DISASTER. ...
Before the European Elections many Conservative MEP's said that the rumour that the Tories would sit with a dirty bunch in Europe was a lie and it wasn't going to happened. At the time Jonathan Fryer wrote about it and I highlighted the issue on my blog. Now Guido has just reported that the Conservatives are going to sit with that bunch and you can read Guido's blog post by following the link. Now this is a coincidence isn't? What I am hearing people shout at this moment in time is: "Liar, Liar your pants on Fire"!
I can sense the "collective" blood boiling (quotation marks used to highlight the subtle double entendre), even without stepping outside my little cubbyhole in SW London. The profiteering high priests of doom and Nanny State governments worldwide will be piling up kindling and well seasoned firewood around the base of several purposefully placed stakes in market squares and piazzas around the world. The alarmists will be digging up credibility destroying dirt; and if they can't, they'll make create a negative straw-man hypothesis anyway. The disciples of boiling ocean scenarios will be gathering with fence pickets and pitchforks, chanting slogans, baying ...
The usual excuse for not blogging: pressure of work, will not apply. The fact is that the weather in Tallinn is so sunny and pleasant that the idea of writing has become something of a chore. However as I look across the shining waters of the Bay of Tallinn, my eyes are drawn to the low shape of HMS Illustrious, which has come alongside the Tallinn cruise ship quay. The sailors will take part in tonight's unveiling of the Freedom monument by President Ilves. Tomorrow is Victory day- the anniversary of the defeat in 1919 by the Estonians and Latvians ...
the wonderful Mr Quist has got it spot on with this post about how people expect so much from their MPs but don't want to pay for it. LibDig This!
Many people will know that I love to give my commentary on politics which classes me as a political commentator and me being a Muslim and being a political commentator is a massive step in my eyes because Muslim's lack representation in roles like political commentary, blogging and other roles. Many people email me telling me that I am a prolific political commentator but I don't think that is true because my readership to this blog is only in the hundreds so I mustn't be that prolific, or am I? So is it just me and maybe a few other ...
Mon 22nd
11:21
Great Ormond Street Hospital - senior management must take responsibility over Baby Peter
So - Dr Al-Sayyat - the doctor who famously failed to diagnose Baby Peter's broken back and broken ribs - is suing Great Ormond Street Hospital over her dismissal. For all the criticism over her behaviour, that shouldn't let Great Ormond Street off the hook. As far as I can tell Great Ormond Street's management has a lot of responsibility for the hospital's failings during the Baby P tragedy. Yes, it was Dr Al-Sayyat who saw Baby Peter, failed to spot major injuries and was then dismissed following an investigation. But just as with Sharon Shoesmith - who wasn't the ...
By dint of having an agent's account with the Co-op bank I received a form asking me to vote as to where to put their £100,000 on tar sand developments in Canada. If you have an account with this bank make sure you vote (look at unopened mail from them don't just throw it away). [...]
Liberal Democrats blogger and reader of this blog ruaraidh wants to carry on with the debate that was started when I commented on the beating up of the Tory MP by young people who lived in his constituency. The blog post that I wrote can be read by following the link but after many started commenting I made another comment clarifying my position which you can read by following the link. Now because I have been asked by a fellow blogger to open the debate and let it continue I think we should so if someone wants to debate my ...
It's a stunningly bad habit of mine to leave perfectly good projects to rot due to lack of interest. This probably would be one of them. What is clear, however, is that I've been away when things were interesting - now that we're back to boring day-to-day politics, lets make a post about directions. My direction is Aberystwyth University to study History and International Politics. But whilst I'm there, and this is where the blog enters matters, I intend to update this thing on a far more professional basis. That's why, over the summer, I intend to have a little ...
For four mornings this week, LDV will be bringing you audio recordings of the proceedings at ALDC's Local Solutions conference for Lib Dem councillors. One of the features of this event is to cram in as much as possible – including training sessions clashing with plenary sessions, which means many attendees themselves may not have heard the plenary. First up this morning is Saturday's early morning session with party leader Nick Clegg MP and party president Baroness Ros Scott. {Sheffield Local Solutions 2009} You can listen to the sound file right here on the web, or you can download it ...
Time to pray: 'please God, don't let Margaret Beckett anywhere near the Speaker's Chair. She is arrogant, conservative and about as likely to do anything to change the practices of the House of Commons as I am to win Wimbledon.' So here's a test Richard Dawkins could be proud of in his pseudo-scientific way. If Madge fails to get elected there must be a God. If she is elected, we are but specks of electricity in an otherwise empty universe... Which would be kind of appropriate if such a ghastly person could get preferred over the eminently able Alan Beith. ...
The very fact that Labour whips are rumoured to be in favour of Margaret Beckett winning the speakership is reason enough to hope against hope that she does not get in this afternoon. It's barely two weeks since she left ministerial office - her mindset is bound to be that of defending the government, rather than defending the rights of Parliament to scrutinise the Government effectively. It would not surprise me if there were collusion between reactionary Labour and Tory forces to ensure that the person who is elected is not going to carry out the reforms that are necessary. ...
Like my colleague Stephen Glenn, I think Margaret Beckett is eminently unsuitable to be the next Speaker of the House of Commons. There are two basic reasons why she shouldn't be Speaker. Firstly, she's always been first and foremost a partisan Labour figure - always has been, always will be. She's always been slavishly loyal to whatever the prevailing orthodoxy has been in the Labour Party. She was a Bennite when that was fashionable, before evolving into a loyal deputy to John Smith, then becoming a Blairite and eventually serving willingly under Gordon Brown. What makes anyone think she'd be ...
It's a month since we opened our LDV poll asking readers who you would vote for to be the next House of Common Speaker. Reader, we failed you. Of the list of 11 possible contenders we provided, your top two faves – Frank Field and Sir Menzies Campbell – will not be running. Indeed, it looks like only the four knights of the realm from our original line-up will actually appear on the ballot papers today: Sir Alan Beith, Sir Alan Haslehurst, Sir George Young and Sir Patrick McCormack. Others who seem likely to stand are Margaret Beckett, John Bercow, ...
From a template letter from 38Degrees who are campaigning for a public inquiry into the Iraq war but the ex Prime Minister Blair and Brown want it to be private: Dear friends I'm supporting a campaign for a proper Inquiry into the Iraq war and I thought you might like to too. [http://38degrees.org.uk/page/s/IraqInquiry] A genuine inquiry would be our chance to understand why the war happened and how to prevent it happening again. A stitched-up, secret inquiry like Gordon Brown prefers will encourage future governments to think they can get away the same again. MPs are voting this Wednesday on ...
Today's Guardian reports that Labour's schools secretary Ed Balls is seriously considering a possible ban on British National Party members working as teachers in schools: A source close to the schools secretary, Ed Balls, said there had been several meetings on the issue with teaching unions which are lobbying for a change in teachers' contracts to prevent them from working if they are members of far-right groups including the BNP. The issue was being "actively looked at", the source said. There are two things which are absolutely clear to me in all this. First, the BNP is a loathsome political ...
Guido blogged last night about the rumour that Labour are going to whip MP's so they vote Margaret Beckett MP in the race for Speaker and I think this issues needs to be raised time and time again. First of all why is Labour using the Whip on a vote that is first of all secret because the Whip will never work and secondly because issues like this are meant to be free votes? Labour might just get Beckett to become the next Speaker of the House of Commons but we need to take into account the issue which will ...
As a commuter for many years in London, I grew used to a routine. Get up, shower, dress, grab a bite to eat, head to the station, bitch about the fact that my train was late/overcrowded/cancelled (delete as applicable) and arrive at the office in a mildly irritated state. This morning? Drop Ros at the station, stroll into the centre of Mid-Suffolk's metropolis, stroke the ginger cat that is sitting patiently outside 'Milpets', Stowmarket's number one shop for your petfood needs, walk to Pickwicks for breakfast (yes, there would be pork involved). Check 'Lib Dem Blogs' to see what's happening ...
Douglas Carswell MP has announced that he will be voting for Richard Shepherd as Speaker of the House of Commons. This is important because Douglas is the MP who started the campaign to get rid of the previous Speaker Michael Martin and his opinion counts for quite a lot on this subject in my view. Douglas says: Firstly, his own expense claims have been very modest. Secondly, he campaigned for Freedom of Information law years before it became fashionable. Together that gives him the moral authority to force transparency on an unwilling tribe in SW1. Better than anyone else I've ...
{young} {beckett1} {bercow1} What a pity that the election for a new Speaker of the Hosue of Commons has descended into a qustion of who you like least rather than who you support most. Barring an enormous and improbable late surge for the highly qualified Alan Beith, it's likely to come down to one of Beckett, Bercow and Young. Neither Beckett nor Young fill me with joy, but Bercow positively terrifies me. His near-zero support on the Tory benches seems to be the principal reason Labour MPs are tempted by him. Trying to piss off David Cameron is not a ...
From The Ottawa Citizen: Aiming to do a better job of informing the public and city officials than they did during the Tamil protests that jammed downtown in April, Ottawa's police are planning to experiment with Twitter and other social media to get word of major incidents out more quickly... Twitter and other social media could be used to provide updates on traffic congestion, detours, or major criminal activity, the report recommends. Other emergency services could also use Twitter to keep the public informed of major fires, health alerts, flooding, power outages or severe weather. Related posts:Keeping your social network ...
This week is Recycle Week, on the credit-crunchy theme of Let's Waste Less. Islington Council has more information online. There are lots of recycling schemes out there, but getting the information to people is crucial. While were sheltering from the storm in the pub on Monday I had a good chat with the licensee. [...]
We the voters want our MPs to be good servants of the people. We want them to be in parliament making good laws and holding the Government to account. At the same time, they must be good constituency MPs, helping thousands of local people every year. We want MPs we can get rid of, so we expect them to have to work for their seats. MPs and candidates should slog it out on the doorsteps and in village hall meetings to prove their worth. Even if we know there are 40,000 houses in our constituency, we sometimes feel a candidate ...
2 Big Stories Whips accused of fixing Speaker vote The Times reports: The race to become the most powerful Commons Speaker in modern history is being undermined by party whips who are trying to install Margaret Beckett as their anti-reform candidate. Senior Labour figures have been accused of colluding with Conservatives to ensure that Mrs Beckett is elected today. She was the only candidate not to endorse plans to remove the powers of patronage from the Whips' Offices — so that MPs, rather than party whips, would choose the chairmen of select committees. Her candidacy was pushed by Nick Brown, ...
Oh my god, does the Labour Party never learn? The reason the Speaker Michael Martin was forced to resign was because the public have lost faith in our political system. So why over this weekend do the Labour Whips and Business Managers think it is acceptable to try and whip the votes for one of the ten candidates for the new Speaker? Simply, it isn't and the people concerned should be ashamed of themselves. There is a process in place to elect the new Speaker and the voting will start at 2.30pm today, so let's see who wins and then ...
I am a floating voter in today's election of a new Speaker. I just got back from doing BBC Breakfast talking about same. I am certain I want someone who understands the game is up - someone who can walk the establishment into the light of the modern era. I want an end to stupid traditions from the absurdity of the new Speaker having to be dragged to the Chair - sheer pantomime -to the use of arcane forms of address in the Chamber. I want an end to partisan speakership. I want someone who knows that the only way ...
The work (re)starts here! The first two weeks after the election have been quite gentle in comparison to the last two months of campaigning - a very different scenario from parachuting in to the job last November. There are the usual Parish Council Meetings and emails and phone calls to attend to and some training at the Council for new Councillors. Funnily enough I qualify for these as I did not have formal induction training in November. But this week the real work starts. On Friday, the Lib Dem group met to decide who our spokespeople and committee members would ...
If Margaret Beckett is elected Speaker later today it will be the best rigged free vote in the history of the House of Commons if the rumours that are emerging today are true. Not least because the whips don't merely need to prevent MPs going into a particular devision lobby this time, they have to be sure that they vote in a secret ballot the right way. This intimidation of voters at the ballot box was done away with for Parliamentary elections not last century but the century before that. At a time when Parliament is desperately in need of ...
John Prescott's Go Fourth campaign is sending emails to their supporters about Tory plans to effectively remove the minimum wage. They suggest supporters send an email to the Bill's sponsors including Nigel Evans, the Tory MP for Ribble Valley. They then go on to say that Ribble Valley is in Wales, which it very much isn't. It's in Lancashire. No related posts.
Last week saw the death of two great men and influential thinkers who had a great influence on me. The first was Ralf Dahrendorf, whose book Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society (1959) argued that Marx defined class too narrowly, rather that ...
Oh dear, David (call me Dave) Cameron, presses his front bench to give up as many of their extra-Parliamentary activities and interests as possible, or at least to declare how much they get paid for them, just to show that the Tories are no longer the ...
Fresh Squeezings from the veins of the internet:Wife has discovered a fab new cookery author! Ravinder Bhogal's Cook in Boots is AMAZING. We made the cheese and pickle pasties for tea, and they were teh yum, and there's lots of other inspiring things in the book, which Wife just randomly picked up in the library. It's total fusion food, too, melding Thai and Indian and Italian and everything. Just like British food should be! The New series of Top Gear started tonight!. As it happens review posted here. Fail Blog ( fail_blog_feed) throws up a Batman panel! It's very silly, ...
The Guardian had a lovely snippet about the odds on the candidates vying to become the next Speaker. Now I have no faith in using a bookie to predict the outcome, as all it does is tell you how much money people are willing to gamble. However, what ...
Irfan Ahmed. He's a love him or hate him kind of guy. I rather enjoy reading his blog, usually. I'm aware of his failings re LGBT rights and Israel, but I've been willing to overlook them for a bit. But come on! Irfan recently posted an article defending the thugs (who so happened to be young) who [...]
I recently found an updated and detailed list of all the current major high street and online retailer's sales on MoneySavingExpert.com.
