feels rough. # is looking back fondly to the days several years ago when weekends last weren't working days too. # More shaky arms after garden strimming. Poor tortoises – all the clumps of long grass they were used to hiding in have suddenly disappeared. # Can't believe how many idiots failed to put their own web address in their Tweetboard Alpha request instead of http://ReplaceWithYourURL.com # Has once again lost his nerve and chickened out of going to a social thing. Sorry Spike – hope that thunder I can hear isn't over your BBQ. # Should clarify. Not scared ...
For some time I have been planning a visit of Geddington in Northamptonshire, which was at the heart of the old Rockingham Forest, because it has the best surviving Eleanor Cross and connections with the novelist J. L. Carr. My interest was piqued even further when I read the following on a website devoted to the village:In the mid 19th Century The Vicarage was extended to become a boarding school and boasts among its pupils William Gladstone who later became the Liberal Prime Minister.When I asked Lord Bonkers about this he said it rang true, reasoning that the young William ...
Search Engine Land has detailed graphs and an interesting summary of the impact of Michael Jackson's death on Google, Yahoo News, Bing, Wikipedia and AOL. A statement from AOL summed it up: Today was a seminal moment in Internet history. We've never seen anything like it in terms of scope or depth.
Here's Liberal Vision's take on the rise and fall of New Labour – set to the unmistakeable beat of 99 Red Balloons by Nena. Contains graphic violence.
Labour-conservative-Liberal Dem! Pro War Anti War Hanging-Open Nicks! Heterosexual -Gay The list could go on forever but do we follow policy or party dogma by the book? perhaps we all need to look in the mirror.
Two days ago i was discussing the number of registered Drug users in Salford. Are the scum selling this crap winning. What do the police need to tackle this growing menace.Tougher sentences? Draconian i think it needs to be.because if we lose this fight i fear for growing generations. [...]
Should someone take the blame for this brutal murder of a young child? is Cllr Owen right? I believe he is, will Cllr Merry take some key decisions to sort out this shambles. I hope he as the courage to make the right decision, this young girls life as gone, lets not see it happen again. [...]
BBC Philharmonic and Carlos Acosta at The Lowry – Thursday 9 – Saturday 11th July <!–Last Updated – 27th June 2009 at 12:05 PM –> Prélude a l'après-midi d'un faune: Claude Debussy Young Apollo: Benjamin Britten (soloist Jonathan Scott) A Suite of Dances: JS Bach (solo cello Natalie Clein) Apollo: Igor Stravinsky Conductor: André de [...]
This morning's issue of The Times has an interview with Neil Hannon and Thomas Walsh, aka Duckworth and Lewis of The Duckworth Lewis Method:Here is a taste of Jiggery Pokery, a Noël Coward-style song about the famous ball delivered by the great Australian bowler Shane Warne that bamboozled Mike Gatting in 1993:"I took the crease to great applause and focused on me dinner/ I knew that I had little cause to fear their young leg spinner."
As it's the 20th anniversary of the first hole in the iron curtain, I've been thinking about what I was doing at the time. I was working in Italy for the food giant, Parmalat. This was several years before the company famously imploded due to massive accounting irregularities. I was only doing a bit of market research, honest.I had just graduated, and spent the summer with other stagieres from all over Europe. We were out of touch with political developments in our home countries. We must have discussed lots of issues, but I can only recall two. One was the ...
-All for charidee, of course. Many congratulations to them. Judy had to correctly identify David's first car (A Morris 8 ex-hen coop) and they both successfully agreed that Judy is the worst behaved (of the two of them) in bed (something to do with snoring, apparently).
Social Security spending is going to overtake the country's Income Tax receipts this year. Worse still, soon servicing Brown's debt is going to cost us more than we spend on education. It's this ignorance of the 'opportunity cost' of money taken from the private sector and individuals by the Government that continues to baffle and amaze me. I've said before myself, the Government now spends more in a year than the entire wage earners of Britain earn combined. If you think about it, that sort of figure - over 700 billion - is the equivilant of 28 million private sector ...
The Planning Inspector has decided to overrule South Glos Council and permit yet another mobile phone mast on a short stretch of Rodford Way. Just look at this aerial view. There's already an O2 phone mast built (blue marker), plus approval for a "3" mast as well (yellow). Now the inspector has approved a mast for Vodaphone (red). Click here to see detailed map from Google Maps. There's yet another approved "3" site at the eastern end of the main road, just a couple of hundred yards away. And T-Mobile has shown interest in putting a mast a similar distance ...
{alan-milburn} Alan Milburn won't be seeking re-election at the next election. He wants to pursue other stuff, spend more time with his family etc etc. But might there be a last parting shot? Now wholly unshackled from any obligations to back Brown's dying government, might he even go as far as endorsing another party in 2010? If Brown clings on until the electorate finally deliver their damning verdict, don't bet against it.
It was only this morning that I realised we've had an official Veterans Day in this country till now. I've obviously missed it in news broadcasts etc for the past umpteen years. Perhaps it's because I don't live in a town with a military base very near? Although my own personal inclinations are towards pacifism I recognise that there are situations when this country is involved in war and I
I hardly ever buy a daily paper during in the week nowadays. It seems silly when you can read so much online or watch it on the box. I do usually buy a Guardian on Saturdays, mainly spurred on by my nearest and dearest's enthusiasm for "The Guide" which is the handiest telly guide around (as well as covering a lot of other stuff which we never read). Sometimes I miss a Saturday, especially if I haven't yet read the previous week's non-news sections. I then spend a weekend catching up. It is one of my small contributions to the ...
Whatever we think of current wars, brave men and women are going out there and literally risking life and limb to make the world a better place. Today, Forces Day, was the presentation of the Afghanistan Medal to Corporal Tom Clarke who has recently returned from duty. The Queen's representative, HM Lord Lieutenant of Durham, Sir Paul Nicholson, di the presentation presdied over by the Mayor. ...
The bread that was rising when I posted yesterday rose better than any I've done so far, but had a small bit of uncooked dough in the middle and stuck to the pan. One more white bread experiment before I move on to rye, then. More oil and a different pan, I think.
Today is set aside for me to write my application for the job of my dreams (tho success would mean my sharp exit from politics), to sort out my paper work, try and find a mortgage to avoid yet another threatened eviction, write a motion on detention of children and resubmit my petition for divorce (in one week's time it will be incontestable). But, as ever, I have to confess to having been distracted by my fellow bloggers! Charlotte Gore started the debate, do candidacy and blogging mix? Swiftly followed by Stephen Glenn and Darrell Goodliffe, both of whom I ...
There has been a lot of activity in the press and through my e-mail account in the last few days about next week's debate on a private members bill which allegedly seeks to protect playing fields from the avaricious nature of local Councils. What the Measure does is to place an obligation on Councils to consult more widely before selling off playing fields. This would be in addition to the existing provision to place an advert before open space can be disposed of and be on top of any statutory consultation attached to a planning application. It would involve the ...
As everything is quiet today I might as well run a poll to get things heated up around here, please do take part in the poll as the feedback will be much appreciated from everyone and anyone reading this. What do you think of this blog on a whole?(survey)
We've turned the corner from May's somewhat gentile breeziness into the muggier end of June. After a langorous recovery from the hard-fought Euro elections, we'd like nothing more than to peel off our suits and rosettes, take a step back from activism and have a well-deserved sit in the park. But this is politics, and these are some of the most exciting times we've seen in decades – for a century, perhaps. There's a whiff of reform in the air, and that's all we need to slip on the least sweat-revealing yellow t-shirts we own and head out into the ...
This is a pretty good synopsis of the things that New Labour has done wrong over the last few years. The song really fits in with the video too.
Dissension is both an admirable and problematic trait. It's admirable, as often you find yourself on the side of right, but it's problematic as you rarely end up being protrayed that way. I consider what I'm doing now dissension, and what it is is to consider what a youth organisation should do and what it's doing now. For those who know me in Liberal Youth, I try hard to occupy the neutral ground and to compromise rather than confront, but sometimes a punch in the nose resonates more than a pat on the back. A lot of people believe Liberal ...
Just a quick one today as I'm visiting my parents... Jess Nevins has the best piece I've read on the death of Michael Jackson, treating Jackson's life as a Gothic text on which to perform literary analysis. Patrick at Lib Dem Voice is calling for a repeal of section 141 of the Mental Health Act, which states [...]
Am I the only one who finds this story about a shopkeeper in the Isle of Wight evicting two ladies from her shop for speaking Welsh a bit bizarre? Holidaymakers Rosemary Dean and sister Ann were told to stop talking in Welsh and told: "Speak English instead." They were then asked to leave Grange Gifts in Shanklin High Street on the Isle of Wight: Lifelong Welsh-speaker Mrs Dean, 60, of Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, said: "It was unbelievable. "We were just talking in Welsh about the price of goods in the shop and the woman behind the counter shouted at us to ...
My back is aching but it's purely self inflicted. I ran the Scottish Coal Carrying Championship today for the third time. One hundred weight of coal in a sack on your back for one km is a bit of masochism but it's good masochism.Willie Sullivan, Labour councillor and good friend friend, ran the race for the first time. I beat him to the line but only just. Another victory for the Lib Dems over Labour!!
Local MP Steve Webb has succeeded in forcing the Government to re-think its plans to increase the amount of money taxpayers put into the MPs' pension scheme. You can read more on Steve's blog.
The sudden and premature death of Michael Jackson has a silver lining for a NuLabour government that has more toxic waste than the banking sector. It is a once-in-a-decade opportunity to bury bad news, really bad news, when the news agenda is otherwise engaged. So who gets the prize for quick thinking in charge of a disaster? Step [...]
Click here for a view straight from the horse's - ummm... - eye?
View Poll: Reader Satisfaction Survey Obviously comments are open for comment. I am off to work now, and won't be back till midnight. Please answer truthfully, and direct your friends here if you like too. Data is fun!
Welcome to the 122nd of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (13th-20th June 2009), together with a hand-picked quintet, mostly courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down. 1. Is Tim Farron the LibDems' best campaigner? by Mark Littlewood on Liberal Vision's blog. You might very well think that. 2. Sorry Irfan You've Just Lost All Respect on Stephen Glenn's Linlithgow Journal. Taking issue with Ifran's promotion of Respect's Salma Yaqoob. 3. ...
Since I blogged about the issue yesterday, the British National Party has published a statement condemning the recent court decision regarding admissions policy at the London Jewish school, JFS. This isn't because the intolerant, racist BNP has any great love or respect for the Jewish community, most of whom they would cheerfully see deported to some random shtetl in eastern Europe. It's because the story gives them the excuse to spout out a load of the usual far-right claptrap: ethnic identity being attacked by the great liberal conspiracy, etc etc. I looked at the BNP's website today, and noticed they'd ...
It's Armed Forces Day today. I didn't know about it till today. I don't know if that means I haven't been paying attention or it hasn't been very well advertised. It certainly should have been advertised. I don't think our armed forces get enough appreciation from either the government or the public. I remember, though I don't have links to them now, various stories in recent months about soldiers being advised not to leave their barracks in uniform because of the prevalence of abuse. That shouldn't happen; our forces should be respected for the job they do for us, regardless ...
I don't have time to a do a full Blood is the Life today, because I have to make my own way to work due to the inconsiderateness of my wife having a life of his own *grumblegrumble*... HOWEVER! I had to share this with you, with a hat-tip to {[info - livejournal.com]} skybard: How to Meet And Woo a Nerdy Girl. I liked the blog so much I added it to my reading list: the_park_bench_feed. This blog is proudly sponsored by
So we have a new Speaker, John Bercow. In this post I don't want to say anything of the merits or otherwise of the new Speaker. However I do want to consider the election process a little in a way that touches on the debates about how to reform the chamber. I've given the idea of a democracy a little thought and considered what model we would choose in the Original Position. First it seems clear that we would not choose a majoritarian, winner-takes-all system - which counts out our current system. Were we to use the maximin strategy we ...
{Empty tree pit} Well there is space for quite a lot more it seems. On Tuesday night I attended a meeting to decide which of the bids made to this year's local neighbourhood budget could be progressed. Two local residents had put in bids for trees in their street - Upper Tollington Park and Quernmore Road. The Council's arboriculturalist has found there is space for at least a dozen extra trees on both those roads. This highlighted to me how badly our area has been neglected since its Victorian heyday. Many of our local streets have empty tree pits (see ...
The Book of Job makes a pithy point on the theme raised by Charlote Gore: "Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book." I suspect that Job would pray that his adversdary had a blog, if such a thing had occured to him. If you are someones adversary and also Vince Cable, writing a book is likely to be of little comfort to their hostile researches. For the rest of us there are potential goldmines to exploit. Congressional Quarterly in the USA is exploring ...
Joe Lidster just agreed to sleep with me for Marmite and booze! * flailflailflail * ... There may of course be logistical problems with the fact that he's the other end of the country and we've never met and little things like that, but still... :D The proof:Joe: Shouldn't read Dr Who forums. Apparently I've been "deified" for no reason. "It sets me wondering just what has helped Lidster get so far.." Joe: Cos yeah, I'm that good in bed. That's why people employ me. Obviously. Me: @joelidster: I am willing to test this hypothesis for purely scientific reasons Joe: ...
Just 24 hours after the Northern Echo published a letter from me criticising our high-earning, low-activity MP, Alan Milburn announced this morning to the local Labour Party that he will not be seeking re-election at the next General Election.Others can write his political obituary. While I have been highly critical of his performance as our MP over the past few years and his health service
I have spent the bits of the last couple of days reading Asterix books. This has stopped me from ranting at length on the internet about some people's priorities. Yes, a man is dead and it's very sad for his family. But he was ONE MAN. He wasn't a great leader, he was once a good pop singer, but that was a long time ago. I understand why his fans are sad; I am sad when a celebrity I admire passes away. What I do not understand is why his death is considered so important that it has knocked every ...
Sat 27th
11:45
Opinion: RIPA - Lib Dems are leading the way in improving scrutiny of council surveillance
As the latest series of reality show Big Brother graces our TV screens, I wonder if all those millions of viewers remember that – 60 years since George Orwell published 1984 - we are increasingly living in a Big Brother Britain? As the new leader of Islington's Liberal Democrat council I wanted us to do our bit in rolling back the surveillance state that has been growing up around us under twelve years of Labour Government. That's why I'm following the example of other Liberal Democrat councils like Oldham in making the council's use of its investigatory surveillance powers more ...
Today would have been Krzysztof Kieślowski's 68th birthday had he lived. The Polish film director directed one of my favourite films as part of his Dekalog series, namely "Krótki film o zabijaniu" or "A Short Film About Killing". This is as good a film as you'll ever get about the pointlessness and immorality of the death penalty. A brutal and seemingly motiveless murder brings together a drifter, a cruel taxi driver, and an idealistic lawyer. What's great about the film is that none of the characters are particularly likeable, but the horrors of state-sanctioned murder are laid out bare. An ...
As defiantly being one of the former and being a approved one of the latter looking for a seat to call my own I thought it was about time I had my two-penneth on this debate. You see while all the contributions thus far have spoken to some kind of truth I think they have [...]
See, there is a point to reading Jonathan Ross's tweets. He's just commented on this brilliant new JibJab animation. Enjoy: Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today! LibDig This!
We received the third Tory leaflet this morning, although as my non political wife pointd out "We've had this one before". We haven't, of course, it's just that it looks identical, is laid out the same, and is the same size as the two previous Tory leaflets. I wonder how many other people will also think they have "had this one before" and will instantly throw it away without read it. It seems the Tory agent brought in for this election does not understand one simple basic truth about leaflets, that they should look diofferent from previous leaflets in size, ...
went on holiday, started new job, much techno change, now trying to get back on top of multi-channel comms beast
The Express has the story: ROYAL Mail bosses were branded draconian yesterday after sacking three postmen in a week - for not wearing cycle helmets. They were accused of adhering rigidly to guidelines to cut staff and slash costs ahead of privatisation. Many others also face disciplinary action following the clampdown in Southport, Merseyside. Several have launched an appeal to be re-instated. Father-of-two David Smith was dismissed after 17 years. Southport Lib Dem MP John Pugh believes the posties have been treated unfairly: The only one at risk for not wearing a helmet is the postman himself - so why ...
It's two years now that Gordon Brown has been PM. Tony Blair resigned two years ago, it seems like a ...
Staying with someone who has serious health and disability problems is helping me to see life more from that perspective. Different issues become more important: there are many campaigns to be fought on that front.
Another thread at alternatehistory.com explores a timeline in which George Orwell's 1984 actually happens - or at least , Big Brother and Ingsoc rule England , but as a North Korean type hermit state. Everyone is brainwashed into believing that the rest of the world comprises Oceania, Eastasia and Eurasia.The creator of this thread suggests that the point of departure for this timeline would be
STV has the news: Grampian Police is set to investigate allegations of a financial irregularity against an Aberdeen city councillor. They centre on Scott Cassie the planning convenor of the council and the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrat group. STV News has learned that police were called in following discussions between the authority's legal team and acting chief executive. The news comes after a week of speculation surrounding Mr Cassie, prompted by a complaint of a "serious nature" being made to the council by a member of Garthdee Commmunity Council. Councillor Cassie represents the Garthdee ward and his wife ...
I see Nick Clegg is off to Glastonbury this weekend after being invited by Michael Eavis, he will be there on Sunday at 2pm in the Green Futures Field.
Mike Smithson has blogged about how an Independent newspaper column writer thinks that the next general election could be fought by the Tories with the message "Honest Dave and Dodgy Gordon" and personally looking at the track record of the Tories in the past with dirty campaigns I think this might be used. If the Conservatives were to use this Cameron would either win or lose support depending on what the general public made of the gimmick. If the general public thought it was stupid (a bit like the Tories) then Cameron could lose votes via using it. But if ...
As a result of complaints from several residents of Islington Gates on Fleet Street, a license review is underway for Mechu on Summer Row on the grounds of "Public Nuisance". Mechu currently has a 4am license. "Reason: The club causes a public nusiance in the form of excessive and unnecessary incessant noise from loud amplified music, taxi horns sounding, and noise from patrons leaving the club" {Mechu on Summer Row} Mechu with Islington Gates in the background Local residents in the Islington Gates development, particularly those in Block A closest to Summer Row, are regularly disturbed at "kicking-out time" by ...
I forgot to say that yesterday was the anniverasry of Jack Kennedy's famous speech from the balcony of Rathaus Schöneberg in Berlin, when he said, "Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was civis Romanus sum. Today, in the world of freedom, ...
Neal Keeling Source Men June 26, 2009 A DAMNING report says there were failures by Salford council, health professionals, and police in responding to the risk Demi was exposed to. But the independent Serious Case Review concludes the death of Demi 'could not have been anticipated and therefore could not have been avoided'. The conclusion stems from [...]
Today is the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots that took place in Greenwich Village in New York. This event marked the beginning of the Gay Liberation Movement. Last week-end I had the huge honour of opening Calderdale's first Pride event, at ...
Cross-posted from the Mandate blog: Habitat's been in the news, in a bad way, for its recent foray into the world of Twitter. Although it's a firm with a solid reputation for its service and its goods, that hasn't transferred over to its tweeting. Instead, Habitat has been widely condemned - and apologised - for adding irrelevant hashtags to its tweets. At its simplest, what Habitat did was to find the tags people were using the most on Twitter and then add them to its messages, even when those messages were about something completely different. The hope was that people ...
Today's Guardian has the scoop...
On Thursday I spent the day with fellow governors interviewing candidates for the new headteacher at St Andrew's CofE Primary school. I've been a governor there for over a decade now, and our new appointment will be the third permanent head in that time. Under the leadership of our outgoing head, Michelle Thomas, St Andrew's [...]
We don't do an LDV Daily View 2 x 2 round-up on Saturdays, so instead here's an open thread. What stories have caught your eye? What issues are on your mind? Are you more in mourning for Michael Jackson or Farrah Fawcett? Is the issue of MPs' expenses receding? Exactly how pissed with David Cameron are Tory MPs? Discuss away in the comments below...
Haringey is pressing on with efforts to whip up a frenzy of apathy among local residents, via a dubious consultation on whether or not the borough should have a directly elected mayor. The Council is being forced to do this by the Government, but the process has been promoted with a whimper, and in the Council's on-line survey, which you can complete here, they ask around 17 questions, only one of which is about whether or not you'd like this change. A constituent has written to us with the following confession: The online survey is not validated in any way ...
couldn't put it better. Peter Oborne nails the hypocrisy of the leadership of the Tory ...
Being of a certain age my music collection is in 4 formats vinyl, tape, cd and electronic. Trust me I'm constantly trying to get it all unto one/two but there is always so much more good new stuff and only so little money. Yeah as someone who gets the odd little copyright payment I will not rip off another artist. Therefore sometimes some of the older scratchable (vinyl) or chewable (tape) formats are the only way I can listen to stuff. The first album I owned was obviously bought for me as there are numerous kids albums that are still ...
I've watched the deabte unfurl with interest started by Chatlotte Gore the other day about why she sees her blog as a hindrance to her being an effective Lib Dem PPC that could be elected to be an MP. I've no doubt that Nich Starling who at one point was being talked about as a potential candidate for the Norwich North by election as I myself, another approved candidate and blogger, read this with interest. Charlotte says that her blog would cause an hindrance as her candidacy 'could be derailed very quickly by finding a few choice quotes'. Remember the ...
You would expect an organisation with the words open politics to be just that open. So just who are they. I got intrigued last weekend into just how Guido Fawkes managed to get the story so quickly about Jim Devine being reported to the police. Then during the week I got interested in just how fast Guido and Tory Bear, both right wing bloggers were able to Retweet Sunlight Centre for Open Politics news so rapidly. Until you follow the links. Their twitter is @sunlight-cops which leads to their website which shows on their about page who they are. Founder: ...
