So difficult to focus today. Working from home is great but on days where your brain is fuzzy there's nothing to force it back into shape. # Frantic few minutes updating our motorsport site & @britsonpole after Max Mosley announced he won't restand as FIA boss http://bit.ly/19MXEw # has taken off his web onliney hat off and replaced it with his print designer hat. #
Michael must resign. That is the conclusion I have come to. It may be that there is a U-turn in the offing. But if transpires that there is no change of heart by Gordon Brown, and no decision that the Iraq War Inquiry will be a public inquiry after all, then our MP must hand in his resignation [...]
I had dinner tonight with a pretty significant journalist from a major broadcaster who relayed a story they felt in their own words "was a fraction shy of being reported on air" (and trust me, they have the power to run the story if they felt it could be stacked...) As it happens a secondary source, at the last moment, was unwilling to be quoted. So the story did not hit the airwaves. But my dinner partner was "as sure as one can be" that the story stacked up. I think it stacks up too. I heard it from another ...
Elland councillor and Halifax PPC Diane Park has left the party and is serving out the remainder of her time as a councillor as an independent. I don't fully know what to say about this. I'm posting this in sorrow and bewilderment, really. I've met Diane a few times and she has always seemed both enthusiastic and lovely. I knew she was annoyed about the expenses thing, but I don't understand how she thinks she is now in a better position to do something about it. I suppose it works as an "I'm distancing myself from the party system" tactic, ...
Two pieces of troubling news regarding London Mayor Boris Johnson and his approach to expenses: he's been running up big bills himself and he also personally signed off expenses on the controversial corporate credit card, the use of which resulted in (yet another) Deputy Mayor having to quit. Paul Waugh has the details of Boris Johnson's expensive taxis: I know Boris loves London's cabbies, but this is ridiculous. A new written answer to City Hall today shows that the Mayor seems to be following in the footsteps of Ken Livingstone when it comes to his love of the hackney carriage. ...
The THRIVE meeting tonight was really well attended by people from all over the Borough to hear the evidence from local people about how a number of issues have affected them and how they live. I must congratulate the work of Thrive for not just putting tonight's meeting on, but especially for working alongside people and genuinely listening to them, and then giving them the confidence to speak...
This time last year I complained that the BBC kept calling the presenters of Top Gear "boys". In this year's the trailer they are played by boys. Why is the BBC so determined that we should see Jeremy Clarkson, the little one and the other one as lovable scamps?
Due to the fact that many are not reading Lord Greedy's Diary and personally I have been put off it anyway I am going to kill Lord Greedy and put him in some cupboard to return if ever needed in a million years time!
I've been offline for a while, as you may have noticed, but having caught up with a tiny percentage of my regular blogs, here's what's caught my eye. Powerpop Criminals has uploaded two superb compilations of late-90s powerpop to Rapidshare, featuring bands like Wondermints, The Negro Problem, Baby Lemonade, Randell Kirsch and Carolyn Edwards. There's some [...]
This morning our EU committee examining money laundering and the financing of terrorism met for two and a half hours, completing its examination of the first draft of our report. Its a good committee, with Members from different Parties working together well. Obviously I can't say what's in the report until its published in a few weeks' time, but when you look at an issue like this where the maximum cooperation is necessary across frontiers, you do wonder how anti-Europeans think we could manage without the EU. Layer, I joined in a question about teenage school dropouts, asking the Minister ...
A friend texted me today to say he had met the Tory candidate for Norwich North and was, how should we put it, deeply underwhelmed. It is clear that the Tories never saw Norwich North as a seat they really stood a chance of winning against Ian Gibson, and their selection was viewed by many in this area at the time as them given a chance to someone who really would not have got a look in at a truly winnable seat. I seem to recall the Labour Party prior to 1997 selecting all sorts of characters (and the characterless) ...
The Labour party want the by election for Norwich North to take place just before the Labour party Autumn Conference so if Labour have done badly this could be used against Brown. This is a good idea and I think it might just work for Labour. If Labour lose Norwich North and they are doing bad in the polls then clearly the aim of Conference goers will be to get rid of Brown by calling on him to go. Could Labour's grass root organise itself and get Brown out at the Autumn Conference if they lose Norwich North? I think ...
Tuesday: debate on steps the Government are taking to assist farmers in Afghanistan to move from opium poppy cultivation to a sustainable alternative livelihood. Clearly, wheat is becoming relatively more profitable than poppies, and there is a window of opportunity. With 20,000 more NATO troops, it should become a lot harder for the terrorists to coerce farmers into growing the poppies and taxing them to finance their operations. But this year there has also been a new upsurge in the use of IEDs against our forces, and last Friday Welsh Guards Major Sean Burchill was killed by one of ...
22 June 2009 PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE Bangladesh war crimes: set up enquiry commission No one, in Bangladesh including all the political parties, disagreed on the issue of war crimes trial, but the process must fair and accountable. And as a first instance a Commission of Enquiry needs to be set up to ensure the evidence compiled supports the allegation made, that no one involved in the war crimes slips through the net and, equally important, no one is victimised under the pretext of war crimes trial, said Abbas Faiz of Amnesty International at a seminar in the ...
Liberal Democrat Voice has already reported that David Tredinnick, the Tory MP for Bosworth in Leicestershire, has claimed £210 for astrology software from, it appears, "Crucial Astro Tools" and £300 for tuition from the same company to learn how to use it. This is not the only esoteric expense claim he has made. Monday's Leicester Mercury reported that in 2006 the Commons fees office rejected a £125 claim from Tredinnick for attending a seminar on intimate relationships run by an acquaintance of his. The event, says the Mercury, was advertised as teaching how to "honour the female and also the ...
Two days after the Tories attempted to bury the embarrassing news of their decision to set up a new European Parliament grouping comprising some of the more, erm, eccentric right-wing elements on offer, and the cracks are, apparently, already showing (hat-tip: Liberal Conspiracy): Hannu Takkula, a Finnish Centre party Euro-MP, was quoted as saying by party news website Verkkoapila on Wednesday that he would stay in the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, one of the European Parliament's political groupings. The Conservatives and Reformists Group had said Monday that Mr Takkula would join the new group. Does the un-defection ...
There I am, displaying some enthusiasm for my new role, contacting Suffolk County Council in my quest to find out how we get a bus stop. Naturally, this being the supposedly incompetent public sector, I did expect to have to wait for a while. Two hours, as it turned out to be... My new friend at Suffolk County Council, Paul, e-mailed me a map of the village, with the locations of the bus stops marked upon it. My first thought, "There are bus stops?". So I look at the map and read the e-mail, noting that Suffolk has a number ...
Following my post last week about the plight facing young people in Reading in this recession another day brings yet more worrying news. Government figures published today show nearly a million young people are now officially not in work or education. I was only a child at the time of the last recession but I can remember hearing about the impact mass unemployment had on a generation of young people under Thatcher in the 1980s. Labour has let down a generation of young people. The thinktank the Centre for Cities also published a report today which warned that the number of young ...
Andrew Duff, leader of the British Liberal Democrat MEPs reacted to the announcement this morning that the British Conservatives had just formed a political grouping in the European Parliament with partner parties from seven other Member States as required by EP Rules. "It is indeed strange for...
It's time for another Liberal England quiz. This time there are two copies of Patrick Hannan's new book A Useful Fiction: Adventures in British Democracy as prizes. The questions will be posted on this blog within a couple of days.
Here's Lib Dem shadow leader of the House David Heath speaking on behalf of the party in today's debate on the terms of reference set by Gordon Brown for Sir John Chilcot's Iraq inquiry: I welcome the debate; it is both timely and valuable. I also accept right from the start that it is fair criticism of me and my colleagues to say that we approach this issue with a particular mindset. We opposed the war in Iraq and none of us have changed our minds on that. I and my party have never faltered in expressing our enormous respect ...
Nude hiking Argentina loving South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford has finally ended his weeklong dance with the public. It was old fashioned adultery after all. One less Republican contender for 2012.
Wed 24th
19:56
Are we doing ourselves any favours fighting decisions without fully costed alternatives.
It's easy to highlight failings, but is a bigger mistake to offer no answers or alternatives. I find it even stranger when people set out to put forward a case, without a case to put forward. Do we as opposition councillors or party activist fall into the trap which is so easy to do, if [...]
Oh my god, get a grip parents of Britain!I'm sorry, children under 13 really don't need a mobile phone in my opinion, and other than peer pressure shouldn't even be asking for one.BBC News this morning said that in a survey even 4 year olds had them. Why? To ring the Nanny? To order nappies from the supermarket?Come on people let's have some sanity back in the discussion here, a 4 year old baby or child does not need a phone, nor a car nor a rail or bus pass.Teenagers I get the arguments for, although I still don't think ...
We all remember Alistair Darling standing-up and putting forward prospectives for economic growth which, charitably, could be called fanciful. Now, the OECD has rather shown those predictions up for what they were by predicting that the UK economy will contract by 4.3% in 2009 and show neutral growth in 2010. It furthermore warns of unemployment reaching [...]
Wed 24th
19:08More Gems off Cllr Warmishams blog. i wonder if it's getting closer to 2010?plus i wonder if our cou...
Off to do interview with Sky News about Langworthy.Then having walkabout on Albion Estate.Perfomance review with Leader,then YOS meeting. about 6 hours
It was about this time last week that I was sat with the three (that I know of) LYS bloggers* and decided to encourage them all, now that their exams are out of the way to take up their keyboards once more. Well the results have been good. First out of the blocks was Callum Leslie, who managed to post about a non-political subject close to my heart, football, on the same that that Lionel posted about my feelings on the same subject, though from opposite ends of the financial spectrum. Then last night he posted about the Tories' strange ...
Why didn't somebody think of this before? It's not often you see a new genius idea but I think this is one of them. The Register has the full story. Apparently, they are no current plans to bring this to mass production. It needs to be bought to market and soon! I particularly like the compact multi-plug & USB adapter.
First it was Sarkozy who was attacking it and now its one of my favourite politicians from the North West Chris Davies MEP who has attacked the Burka and has called on Lancashire women to take it off. This was brought to my attention via someone who just wants to stir but because I think the stirrer should get his way here comes my rant. First of all Chris you are meant to be a Liberal and you are not meant to decide what women should wear and shouldn't wear. I am all for limits to Liberalism because otherwise things ...
Well, that's something that I was not expecting to see. Our illustrious leader Nick Clegg is speaking about the protecting the environment and reinvigorating our democracy at Glastonbury on Sunday at 2pm. Sounds like a good thing to do though. Well done Nick! I guess this is the flip side to the outreach work being done by St. Vince. Hope he manages to take in some bands whilst he's there.
Tory blogger Iain Dale got very over-excited last night with his EXCLUSIVE article, Clegg Approached Martin Bell & EDP Editor to Stand in Norwich North. Sorry to say it, Iain, but I'm a little underwhelmed. Here's why... First of all, Iain has hardly covered himself in glory in his coverage to date of the Lib Dem by-election campaign in Norfolk North. He made a bit of a prat of himself last week, when accusing the party's candidate April Pond of "whoring" herself around Norfolk, as she was already selected for the new parliamentary seat of Broadland. (And yes, that's right, ...
'O' dear The government has commissioned a huge survey, taking in people's feelings about their councils and communities. Oldham councillors may wish to look away now... PERCENTAGE SATISFIED OR FAIRLY SATISFIED WITH HOW COUNCIL RUN THINGSWandsworth Borough Council – 75.3City of London* – 72.7Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea* – 72.2City of Westminster Council – 70.3Rushcliffe Borough [...]
Wed 24th
18:31And it's not Swinton Shopping centre perhaps i should ask them to pop down the road to do a follow u...
The recession leave its mark on shopping centre 8:44am Wednesday 24th June 2009 WALKDEN town centre is among the worst hit in Britain in the wake of the recession, according to new research. Retail research firm Experian, which has been tracking the health of the British high street since the 1970s, says 40 per cent of the [...]
Yes, the apostrophe is in the right place. From the BBC News website: Married Labour MPs Ann and Alan Keen have been given a month to stop their local council repossessing their home 10 miles from the House of Commons.The pair's expenses have been in the spotlight after they claimed £137,679 for a second home near Parliament.In a letter seen by the BBC, Hounslow Council tells the couple "urgent action" is needed to explain why their main home in Brentford is unoccupied.The Keens have not responded to BBC requests for a comment.In addition, the Keens are not thought to have ...
Just noticed Sky is reporting on persiankiwi's tweets this morning about new bouts of violence in Tehran today. They quote this tweet: "I see many ppl with broken arms/legs/heads - blood everywhere - pepper gas like war," persiankiwi writes in English.I actually re-tweeted this so I wonder if they heard about it through my twitter? Suppose I'll never know. Anyway if you twitter its worth following this person here: www.twitter.com/persiankiwi
Over at the Financial Times, there's a feature interview with Nick Clegg (he's certainly getting about this week). The opening two paragraphs give a flavour: Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats, believes his party can overtake Labour at the next election, as "big things can happen" when a government is defeated in the battle of ideas and loses touch with the public. In a bullishly confident interview, Mr Clegg said on Tuesday it was "not beyond the realms of possibility" that his party could push Labour into third place and become the official opposition to a David Cameron government. ...
Last night, after a meeting of the Liberal Democrats' International Relations Committee at Cowley Street, I walked round to the European Commission office at Westminster — accompanied by the newly-elected MEP for South East England, Catherine Bearder — for the vernissage of an exhibition of portraits and still lifes by the artist Ruth Addinall, a self-taught painter who [...]
Following Cllr Keith Davies's decision for personal and constituency reasons to support the "No" campaign, the Liberal Democrat councillor group decided today not to impose a "party line" on the issue. Members will be free to campaign according to their conscience.
Word-of-mouth has it that Councillor Dennis Keogh (Ratepayer, Port Talbot) has joined the Labour group on Neath Port Talbot CBC.
A campaign has begun, instigated by Acton residents, to save the Heart of the Acton. The 'Heart' refers to 5 beautiful buildings (the Priory, the Old Town Hall, the Pools, the Library and the Magistrates court) which occupy the area just south of the high street, roughly between Winchester street and Acton lane. The current council plans are to demolish the Priory and sell it to pay for a change of use of the Library and to integrate it with the Town Hall and the Pool into one big complex (incidentally the Magistrates court is unaffected). While we support regeneration ...
I seem to be making a habit these days of calling into Iain Dale's internet radio show. I was at it again this week. I called in to pick up on a theme that Jonathan Shepherd of Tory Radio had started earlier on in the programme about MPs expenses. He felt that the MPs expenses thing has now gone far enough and MPs have become an easy target (he has blogged about it here). He felt that there are very few if any MPs who will try and defend their colleagues for fear that something will be found in their ...
Said travels having taken place entirely on my laptop. Guess who turns out to be an artist and a rather good one at that. Then again I'm probably the only person who didn't realise this. Mr Mousavi's work is discussed in the article linked. (Hat tip to the FP blog, see the roll) Weird runways. Finally, whereas [...]
I've waited a while before blogging because I wanted to make sure that it wasn't all Max Mosley spin, but it seems that peace has broken out in Formula One. It looks like both sides are trying to claim victory but the detail in the FIA statement bears a remarkable resemblance to what the teams wanted. Ferrari seem happy with the outcome and have received the assurances they wanted about future governance of the sport. I particularly liked the phrase "to avoid continuous change being decided by one person alone." Can't think who they might have meant! On the face ...
James Graham the Lembit hater has created a blog that you can go to, to read Lembit Opik's Daily Sport Column. Every one knows Lembit's biggest fan isn't James Graham but if he did it to help promote Lembit and his Daily Sport column then I think he deserves thanking. But if he has done it to prove a point or to try and take the pi** then he needs to find something better to do with his time. Lembit's "Prawn Free Lembit" blog is now on the blog roll!
Another email drops into the inbox of The Voice from A Liberal Democrat Organiser Who Wishes To Remain Anonymous. You can catch up with the cheeky chappy's earlier offerings by clicking HERE. The interviewer looks at me over his clipboard, rather sternly. "Tell me – this role requires the candidate to be able to be apolitical, to take a neutral stance to better further the aims of our organisation. Given your background, how would you ensure you achieved this?" The interviewer has a point. I attempt to look like someone who doesn't think the Tories are the footsoldiers of Satan, ...
Yesterday I accompanied my sister on a visit to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary where she saw the neurology consultant and two other doctors. I thought they were excellent, they listened and were really trying their best to help her find solutions for her pain. We went by ambulance and although the trip was a long one each way the crew were great, not only looking after everyone very well, but providing an interactive comedy experience too. Although it was very tiring for my sister she got some help and had a thoroughly entertaining ambulance trip. I wish everyone in the Health ...
The Daily Post reports on the dance video featuring the Assembly's Presiding Officer, First Minister, Finance Minister and the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats amongst many others. The video was all set to go viral until YouTube took it down for allegedly violating their terms of use. Bizarre! No related posts.
There is an interesting article on the Cyrmu X blog from a few days ago in which the author seeks to paint a picture of the consequences of the One Wales Government's cuts in post 16 education. She writes: Cuts are being made at sixth form centres and colleges, leading to less hours for staff or a complete axing of jobs. This also affects pupils who are unable to study the courses of their choice due to a lack of funding. A number of pupils have already faced this situation when choosing A Levels and have been unable to follow ...
The creation of the Conservatives' new right-wing group in the European Parliament is welcome as a source of more media attention to the Parliament. The Group is promoting its "Prague Manifesto" as a statement of its conservative guiding principles. The European Liberal Democrats – currently numbering, across the 27 EU states, four prime ministers, nine EU commissioners, 64 Ministers in 20 governments, 75 MEPs, and the Sec-Gen of NATO – made our own Stuttgart Declaration in 1976. The full declaration is 850 words. The main headings are: 1. The supreme task of the European Union must be to guarantee human, ...
One death of a young person is one too many. So when Hester Stewart, a 21-year-old medican student, died - apparently from taking the recreational drug GBL along with alcohol - the calls for GBL to be banned forthwith were both understandble and predictable. GBL is widely used in industrial chemistry for all sorts of good things, but when ingested it quickly turns into GHB. You may rememeber that GHB, in addition to naturally occuring in small quantities in our bodies and in wine and beef, is also one of the so-called date-rape drugs. So should GBL be banned as ...
He was in Argentina all along, he says.
Max Mosley has announced that an agreement has been reached with the Formula One Teams Accosiation (FOTA) that will prevent the big names and big teams breaking away in a rival championship next season. As part of the deal Mosley who the team principles have been unhappy with has agreed to step down and not seek re-election as President of the FIA when his fourth term comes to an end in October. This is contrast ahead of the FIA meeting today when Mosley said he would seek re-election. It also appears that the writs that Mosley and experienced barrister had ...
Iran and the UK have both expelled a couple of diplomats, this follows the Supreme Leader - Ayatollah Khamenei criticising the UK on Friday and calling us the "most evil".
Today's Daily Post reports that the number of complaints against public bodies in Wales has risen by almost a third in the last year. They say that in the first six months of 2008-09, the new Public Services Ombudsman, Peter Tyndall experienced a 29% increase in complaints to his office. The paper suggests that one of the reasons for this may have been people trying it on with a new Ombudsman and media attention regarding the health complaints he had received. Many complaints however were outside the Ombudsman's remit and only 25 of 1,422 received were upheld. No related posts. ...
How do you make Private items in your Outlook 2003 calendar automatically appear in a different colour from other items? It's easy to have items in different categories automatically appear in different colours, but the Private setting isn't a category. The answer is rather buried away, so here's a note to help me remember in future and in case anyone else finds it useful: Go to View / Arrange By / Current View / Customize Current View Go to Automatic Formatting It's then the Sensitivity setting you need to select for your rule Next question: why did Microsoft decide to ...
Well that was the first PMQs of John Bercow's time as speaker. I thought he did OK. Here are my highlights:He got in early by cutting short a planted question stating "We got the jist of it!"When there was continual barracking during the Cameron/Brown exchanges he interrupted and insisted that the public do not like it "and I do not like it!". Things were a bit quieter after this.He chided Michael Fabricant the Tory MP saying that he must calm himself "It's not good for your health!".The best bit for me was a slap down to another Labour back-bencher who ...
{money-money-money} Shock reverberates around the blogosphere following Mark Thompson's revelations that Martin Bright of The Spectator has never read a "classic" blog post. Stop for a minute. Stop. Feel the reverberations. But not only can you post your classic posts on Mark's blog, you can also send them to the Bastiat Prize, so long as you do so in the NEXT WEEK. If you do this, and you win, you get $3,000 and 'nuff respec. CLICK HERE TO ENTER Among the judges is Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, a website upon which I based almost an entire post-graduate degree. Good ...
Well, it will no doubt be unfashionable to say so but I thought Mr Speaker Toad acquitted himself admirably today. He was clear, commanding and - crucially - he directed most of his criticisms at the mindless baying public school benches of the Tories. More of the same might make him popular enough to actually do something to change this charade for the better. As for Dave, he just can't land a blow. He had an open goal today (to mix metaphors furiously) but he simply parroted his attack and Gordon parroted his response. A great day for incisive debate ...
For weeks PMQs has been stuck in a quagmire. On one hand, you get an onslaught of planted questions about Tory spending cuts from the Labour benches. Then you get Cameron slagging of the Government's spending predictions. And so on. It's all been rather meaningless and there is very little concrete discussion on future policy. Nick Clegg made a more relevant contribution to this debate in a few short seconds than Tom Brown and Jerry Cameron had made in weeks. He got the obligatory soundbite about the Government going nowhere (this Government only has reverse gear left) in first. Then, ...
Dear Edward Leigh,Thank you for your prompt response last time I wrote to you regarding the election of the new speaker in the house of commons.As I know you will be aware, the Lincolnshire depots have been hit hardest by the collapse of Dairy Farmers of Great Britain, many of the worst affected farmers are within our constituency.I am writing to you today asking that you please join the growing
All of the papers are reporting that the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) are considering taking legal action against the BNP over its "apartheid-style" membership policy that bars membership to black, Asian and Jewish people. Apparently, the BNP's membership rules state that members must be "strictly defined" as "indigenous Caucasian and defined ethnic groups emanating from that race". Its website also states that anyone wishing to work for the party must submit a membership number, which the commission believes breaches race legislation. It is also concerned that BNP candidates elected to office do not intend to offer equal treatment ...
Do my ears deceive me or has Gordon Brown just answered a question? Cameron skewered Brown with a statement from last week he claimed had been incorrect. He quoted figures to the House – something Brown has mocked him for not doing – which showed unequivocally that capital investment will fall from next year, 2009/10, up to the Olympics year in 2011/12. Brown's response, of itself, is reasonable – actually 2008/09 expenditure was atypical, due to bringing forward recession investment. He quotes similarly clear figures that show the 2011/12 figure will return to the 2007/08 level. Cameron rejoins that the ...
After my last blog post addressing the questions raised by Iain Dale about April Pond I thought Iain would have learnt his lesson not to mess with Lib Dem Bloggers but clearly that is now not the case. Iain has written another blog post about how Nick Clegg picked April Pond as the third choice and here is my answer to Nick Clegg. Iain writes about how two people knocked Nick Clegg's offer back to be the Lib Dem candidate for Norwich North. First of all their isn't anything wrong with this, many political parties find it hard to get ...
The Iranian Presidential election, judging by the reaction of the mainstream media across America and Europe, appears to be an open and shut case with the victory of incumbent President Ahmadinejad being widely denounced as a fraud. I have no intention of wading into that debate as only time will tell what really happened in Iran. However, the quality of western reporting on the election has undoubtedly been a major cause for concern. In America, the New York Times declared the result a massive shock after "unofficial" polls had given Ahmadinejad's closest rival Mir-Hossein Moussavi a clear lead. In the ...
Over at Commons Confidential, Nick Assinder suggests to Speaker Bercow that he might "have a quiet word in Gordons ear" suggesting a return to twice-weekly PMQ's. I am an unashamed fan of PMQ's and think a return to twice-weekly face-off's would be no bad thing. Alot of people don't like PMQ's because it is very [...]
The third of our instalments from ALDC's local government conference Local Solutions takes the Government's energy policy for local authorities as its topic. You can still hear the first two instalments: Nick Clegg and Ros Scott, and Paul Scriven on Sheffield. Today's instalment is an excellent presentation from Mo Baines, from the Association for Public Service Excellence, talking about how councils will shortly be required to monitor closely just how much energy they are using and reduce it year on year. {Sheffield Local Solutions 2009} You can listen to the sound file right here on the web, or you can ...
The next Pact meeting for the Westmoreland area will be held on 24th September at 7pm at Oldfield Park Baptist Church. All residents are welcome to attend and bring issues forward for discussion. I would like to encourage local residents to attend this meeting as we have some issues that ae being raised in certain area's that it would be helpful to discus in a more open forum....
2 big stories As any fule kno, the chair of the Iraq enquiry Sir John Chilcot has ruled that as a default all evidence should be given to the enquiry in public. He has also indicated that he will be calling Tony Blair and Gordon Brown to give evidence. From the Guardian: The move to open up his hearings, which came on the eve of a Commons debate tomorrow on the inquiry, shows that a wholesale change of the terms has been carried out since the inquiry was established by the prime minister last week. The decision to summon Brown ...
Bath MP Don Foster has received a reassurance from Post Office Ltd that they remain committed to having a branch in Weston village. The existing branch closed on Saturday, with only three days notice given before the doors were shut. Don said, "I have been in touch with Post Office Ltd and informed them that I will always fight for a post office branch for Weston. ...
Alright, having grabbed power at the end of a manifesto, it's time to do something. This is a picture of Cathy, who drives the Taxibus serving Creeting St Peter. Cathy and I were talking yesterday about improving rider figures for the service and concluded that a bus stop might bring the service to people's attention.Conveniently, I was coming home to attend a Parish Council meeting and took the opportunity to raise the issue. The Parish Council were pleasantly enthusiastic, and it was decided to put the matter on the agenda for our next meeting, with the expectation that some research ...
I have really been trying not to post about MPs expenses any more but I could not let this one pass by. Apparently Conservative MP David Tredinnick has spent £510 of taxpayer's money on "Astrology software" and training on how to use it. I am afraid this is where my liberal self clashes with my extreme dislike of nonsense. Astrology is to me self evidently nonsensical. If Mr Tredinnick wants to spend more than £500 of his own money and waste his time on this sort of thing then that is up to him but I resent having public money ...
Half remembered quotation from the radio this morning: "If every American dairy farmer cut their emissions by 12% then it would be the equivalent of taking half a million cars off the road." Apparently, the key to success is in the feed for the cows.
Something from a reader: This is to inform you that Mr Barry Gardiner has bought a flat on 24/11/08 in Wembley for £260,000. 13 Marsh Hall Talisman Way Wembley Middlesex HA9 8JJ His wife Caroline Anne Smith also works for him as a case worker (mainly immigration). He claimed £119,193 as staffing allowance for the year 2006/07. He was ranked 1st in claiming staffing allowance. He stated that the reason his staffing allowance was too high was that he had to use solicitors to defend himself in a case against him filed by one of his constituent. He won the ...
From Daily Kos: South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford (R-SC) was sighted on the Georgia to Maine Appalachian Trail in the total buff, purportedly in support of the annual nude trail hike held every year in this part of the country! In a late report from the AP, Governor Sanford was sighted about 5 miles from the Georgia/Tennessee border, clad in little more than a Land's End backpack, a pair of Gore-Tex hiking boots and a fanny pack holding a few bottles of Aquafina drinking water!
A little while back I was interviewed as part of a Gateway review into one of the Government's IT projects. It was for the CORE electoral register project, the successor to LASER, which was originally due to be delivered in the Autumn of 2000. Nearly a decade, and an awful lot of money, on the project still hasn't been delivered. Whilst it is by no means in the NHS or ID cards league, it is still in its own way a good example of how Government IT projects can go on and on and on without delivering the goods. It's ...
Courtesy of the London Assembly: On 15 June 2009, the Assessment Sub-Committee of the GLA's Standards Committee met in private and considered a complaint from Mr Shaun Lee, a member of the public, concerning the conduct of Mr John Biggs, London Assembly Member. Set out below is a brief and general summary of the complaint: In a letter dated 23 February, John Biggs' Personal Assistant responded to correspondence from the Complainant to explain that John Biggs was not related to the Great Train robber, Ronald Biggs. In response to this, the Complainant wrote to John Biggs on 26 February 2009 ...
The HMIE report on child protection services in Dundee, published yesterday, made very concerning reading. As reported in last night's 'Evening Telegraph' and today's 'Courier', I made the following comments: Dundee City Council Liberal Democrat Group Leader, Cllr Fraser Macpherson, today said that he was very concerned by the conclusions of the HMIE report on child protection services in Dundee. Cllr Macpherson said, "The report's conclusions are of significant concern, highlighting 'major weaknesses in the identification of children who needed protection.' Eight indicators showing that child protection services are weak and one unsatisfactory indicator is without any shadow of a ...
The BBC has a 60-minute interview with this seminal rock band ahead of the release of their new LP Back from the Dead. Thanks to Harry on Crooked Timber.
'The honourable member is nicked' may soon be a phrase heard around the Westminster Village following a rule change in the Autumn that would see an end of Parliament policing itself. There is to be an Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) in the 93 pages of new rules. (What is it with the Labour Government that to make things more transparent they add page upon page of confusion?) However, there are also to be three new criminal offences. Knowingly making a false claim for an allowance, maximum penalty 12 months imprisonment Knowingly making a false claim for an allowance, maximum ...
Well, what an unpleasant surprise I had last night. I was bloody stopped and me and my car searched by the police about midnight as I was returning from my friend's house in a nearby village. They said they were randomly targeting vehicles on these country lanes late at night, asked where I had been and where I was going and whether I had had a drink - I hadn't. So he started on about whether I used drugs: I don't really know where that one came from, though he had seen my roll up fag and asked how long ...
{kidney} Vicki Chapman, of the Human Tissues Authority (a taxpayer-funded health quango), is falling over herself to proclaim the dazzling success of altruistic live organ donation. Apparently, a total of 25 brave people have offered to donate a spare kidney to a stranger. The number of volunteers in year one was ten. In year two, it was fifteen. Ms. Chapham "did not expect to see the number rise so significantly after just one year". (From practically zilch, to a little bit more) These twenty-five donations will reduce the number of people in the UK in need of a kidney from ...
I was reading my good friend Callum's blog tonight and was reminded of a thought I had earlier today. I'll quote Callum here for context (allthough this is not the entirety of the post, and you should click through to him nonetheless). "Story number 2, the BNP. Not much to say on this really. Black people aren't [...]
If someone has some spare time, and would like to know the truth and not what the media tell you on Women's Rights in Islam then please watch the following video. It is part 1 of 4 (the others will follow shortly) This is triggered from something that was left in the comments section.
I took my daughter along to the ceremonial raising of the flag on Monday morning, again at Hastings Town Hall. I feel it's really important to come to events such as this with her. Not only because of her own family history, but because we must keep alive down the generations an awareness of the sacrifice that [...]
Iain Dale has a bit of a scoop regarding the Norwich North selection. Apparently Nick Clegg approached Martin Bell and also the editor of the Eastern Daily Press both of whom turned him down. I was going post my thoughts on this but Nich Starling has said pretty much what I was going to. I will just add that I seem to recall 18 months ago that there were lots of people approached about the Conservative London Mayor candidate position before they finally accepted Boris as the candidate. It is by no means unusual during a high profile election (like ...
I attended the Castle Ward Forum AGM on Saturday morning at Hastings Town Hall. Living in Manor Road in Castle Ward, I like to keep up to speed with what is going on, and the Forum always has its collective ear to the ground! I was especially glad that I did because I found out that Judy [...]
How long will it be until the expense scandal tire's of Westminster sleaze and moves onto local government? Not long if the Evening Standard is anything to go by. Yesterday, the paper broke the news that Kensington & Chelsea Leader, Cllr Merrick Cockell, made two lavish trips to New York, flying first class and staying at 5-star hotels - all at local taxpayers' expense. Today, Boris Johnson's Deputy Mayor, Ian Clement resigned over misusing his GLA City Hall credit card. He had claimed to be lunching some of London's Council Leaders, including Enfield's Michael Rye, Barnet's Mike Freer and Kensington ...
