Saturday was a busy day in Bracknell with a parade in town for our Armed Forces and a big day out festival at South Hill Park. This was the first ever armed forces parade of any kind in Bracknell town. It was well attended and well organised with representation from Many Standards, Veterans, Gurkhas and Cadets. There were also a number of stalls, too many to mention. Veterans were presented with veteran badges by the Mayor of Bracknell after the parade. Also on Saturday was Bracknell's big day out festival which is held at South Hill Park and was well ...
Just back from Ankara, helping to launch the Turkish translation by Ara Sarafian of the Blue Book of 1916 on the Armenian Genocide, see While there we had useful discussions with the Turkish Human Rights Association (IHD) and the Democratic Society Party (DTP).
Some airhead on Radio 4's "Westminster Hour" has just told listeners that the Liberal Democrats "hold the balance of power" in Sheffield and Newcastle. No we don't. We run both cities outright. And the Conservatives do not have a single councillor in either of them. You would hope there would be someone on what is supposed to be a specialist political programme who would know this. Obviously not. We asked the BBC for a comment, but they were all out buying flowers for Jonathan Ross.
There might be a heatwave at Wimbledon this weekend but not up here. We've got rain, drizzle, more rain, sunny interval, more drizzle. The fog on the A19 was bad enough to lead to a series of accidents on Friday night. This is summer?Meantime I see that Ed Balls still thinks the government can conjour money out of thin air and not have any spending cuts while paying back the national debt.
Life is stranger than fiction. The whole expenses scandal facing parliamentarians started after the press got hold of the John Lewis list of items that MPs were allowed to purchase. As a result of the publication of this list, the press and the public demanded more information about MPs, resulting eventually in the publication, in detail, by the Daily Telegraph of hundreds of expense claims MPs made. One of the biggest knock-on effects of the publication by the Telegraph has been the resignation of Ian Gibson in Norwich North causing a by-election. And now, who has been selected to stand ...
The city of Birmingham has the largest provision of allotments of any local authority in the UK with over 7,000 plots. But there is absolutely nothing for the people of Ladywood ward! The situation isn't much better across the constituency either, with just one solitary site in Soho ward. For the unaware, Birmingham Ladywood constituency (Ladywood, Soho, Aston, Nechells) has the highest percentage of families in the UK living below the official poverty line. When the recession struck, Birmingham Ladywood was the worst affected constituency in the entire country. Bearing these facts in mind, is it not astonishing that there ...
Imagine if you could post on twitter everything you are ever doing e.g. scratching your a**, having a sh** or even sleeping? If that is you who wants to do that then here is an advance to what twitter can do which should be seen as a massive move forward for people who want twitter to be their online tracker. A new technology allows twitter users to check their heat rate and post it to twitter via a little gadget and the gadget gives twitter followers information on how the ticker is working and if the person is still alive ...
The LibDem Chief Whip and and MP for Sutton and Cheam, Paul Burstow, was in upbeat mood at the annual summer party of Holborn and St Pancras Liberal Democrats this afternoon, saying that although we had failed to gain the second Euro-seat in London, the party's performance in target and held Westminster parliamentary seats at [...]
I have arranged to meet Royal Mail representatives later this week to discuss the many complaints I have receieved from constituents about mail deliveries in recent weeks - particularly about the extensive delay in items constituents know have been posted to them actually being delivered. I have received numerous complaints from constituents from different parts of the West End and am aware that the complaints are also coming from other parts of the city too. There have also been a lot of concerns about real difficulty getting through to the Dundee West Sorting Office by phone. I therefore approached the ...
This week's roundup comes from the Cafe des Tilleuls in Autun, Burgundy, and Philobiblon.
Being in the North of Aberdeenshire I'm being woken up even earlier than usual by twitter: half past three in the morning. Do birds ever cease tweeting within the Arctic Circle in Summer? How do they cope with all that effort? Tiring just hearing them and I don't have to fly about feeding babies with caterpillars all the time.
From BBC News: Britain's oldest Olympian Godfrey Rampling, who won medals at the 1932 and 1936 Games in Los Angeles and Berlin, has died at the age of 100.Rampling was a member of the Great Britain 4x400m relay teams which won silver in 1932 and gold in 1936. And, trivia fans will be pleased to learn, he was the father of the actress Charlotte Rampling.
Janet & I have had a great weekend away - it wasn't very far away - Crieff Hydro - and the weather wasn't up to expectations - but it was good to chill out and the company was excellent. Many thanks to Helen & Murray for looking after Bunty (our puppy; we've not been away from her before but she has had a great time - tired puppy ... zzzzzzz!) Of course, the drawback of being away is the large list of phone and e-mails messages to follow up on return! Anyway, here's a couple on photos taken on my ...
In all the sadness of the death of Michael Jackson, there's been loads and loads about the best of his hits. The consensus is that the "Thriller" album was ultimate Jackson, but for me,"Off the Wall" in 1979 was Michael Jackson at his best, and best of all - 'Rock With You'
The Conservatives have now left the European People's Party in the European Parliament and formed the European Conservatives and Reformers.
Today, as we all know, is the anniversary of the assassination Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo by the young Bosnian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. This became the justification for events that led to the Great War of 1914-1918. This was the single most catastrophic event to befall Europe, since the Bubonic Plague of the 14th century. Strangely enough, there were huge ramifications, an end to empires, the greater emancipation of women, and of course the rise of the Labour Party. It also puts me in mind of Henry Allingham who celebrated his 113th birthday a ...
Does Michael Jackson's music begin to justify the extraordinary degree of attention that has been paid to his death? I think not. He was clearly outstandingly talented as a boy, and next to the Osmonds the Jackson 5 sounded like the Amadeus Quartet. But they were pretty much in the Motown mainstream, and if you like late Motown then Stevie Wonder is greatly to be preferred. I liked his Off the Wall album. It was at the time the best-selling album by a Black artist ever. And it showcased Michael Jackson as good-looking, stylish young Black man. But after that ...
Have a look at Scottish Episcopalian Priest Kelvin Holdsworth's speech, from an open topped bus, to the Edinburgh Pride march yesterday, along with his reflections on the day. Kelvin has also been a Liberal Democrat candidate in the past, standing in Stirling where he upped our vote by over 9%. He's now the Provost of St Mary's Cathedral in Glasgow and hosted Bishop Gene Robinson last year to show him that Scotland welcomed him even if the Bishop's Conference at Lambeth last year didn't. LibDig This!
It has been almost impossible for any journalist covering Andy Murray's recent run of success at Wimbledon to not mention how lots of people in England don't like him because of his supposed anti-English comment three years ago. In fact, there was even a letter in this week's Metro from someone saying they would never [...]
Twitter has been used by the demonstrators in Iran to organise protests. I, and others, first found out about Michael Jackson's death on Twitter. And today I spotted a tweet from Krishnan Guru-Murthy about a piece on C4 News on the Mumbai terrorist attacks that made me turn the television on. Twitter is still evolving. Quite how it will make money is still open to question. I began using it to post a link to my blogs. Now I tend to comment on events that interest me and engage in conversation with other tweeters. Others like to use it as ...
It's a day of celebration in our house - it's Bob's birthday and 22 years since the day we met when he came to Braemar Youth Hostel aiming to stay for a night and leaving a week and a half later with more than he bargained for. This is the first time in years he's actually spent his birthday at home - we are usually in Mallorca but my being ill has completely mucked up our holiday plans. Maybe we'll get away later in the year - I want to make as much use of getting away when Anna's a ...
There has been a lot of response to Charlotte Gore's post last week where she ruled herself out of standing as PPC for Halifax and gave a number of reasons why she felt she was not suitable to be one ever. Here is a flavour: Amongst the many reasons why I would make a terrible PPC my personal favourite is this blog. Oh, it'll take a day or so, but any campaign run by me could be derailed very quickly by finding a few choice quotes. Charlotte Gore wants to axe the welfare state! Charlotte Gore wants to cut spending! ...
Iain Dale has argued the following comment that you can see quoted below and I have an interesting concept for him and anyone else who doesn't accept the Burka. "The day a woman can wear a bikini on a beach in Saudi Arabia will be the day I will totally accept the burka." Culture is a massive part of life in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and countries that have a large Muslim population or are Islamic Countries and wearing a bikini is not culture in these parts of the world. People live with moral in the back of their minds and ...
Local newspapers have acquired an often deserved reputation for headlines or articles that are either amusing or poorly written. Even my local newspaper in Sheffield – The Star – has been mentioned by the late lamented Linda Smith on QI for its headline "Worksop man dies of natural causes". Which is at least [...]
Something in the nature of a 'live blog'... Update: 'Man in the mirror' was the higest Jackson singles chart track at Number 11. La Roux was Number One. Just listening to the Chart Show. (Which in itself is taking me back to my teenage years) They've already had the following in the run down: 'Earth Song', 'Beat it', 'Smooth Criminal', 'Billie Jean', 'Man in the mirror' and 'Thriller'. Shame that, I was expecting and hoping that Thriller would be Number One. Ho hum. So what do we have left? 'Bad', 'Don't stop 'til you get enough', 'Black or White' or ...
Labour have apparently chosed Chris Ostrowski to be their candidate in Norwich North. He is a business development manager (what ever that means). And no, I haven't hear of him either.
Many will know that I am a Sunni Muslim who is also a Barelvi but for those that don't you now know and that Sunni's are the Liberal group in Islam. I am very worried that many Muslim's are being hypnotised by Zakir Naik a so called Islamic Scholar who supports terrorism, hatred of the Holy Prophet and calls the battle of Karbala a Political War. Naik has brain washed the youth in the UK and across the world and to combat his brain washing I have started a facebook group to combat the brain washing and bang home the ...
Sun 28th
17:30
I would like to offer my thanks to Cllr Merry for offering Councillors a chance to discuss the demis...
I look forward to Meeting Cllr Merry on Friday to discuss Swinton Shopping Center. I think this a great chance for joint working to discuss and hopefully come up with some answers.
Source Salford Online Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority appoints new Chairman, Vice Chairman and Deputy Chairman <!–Last Updated – 26th June 2009 at 12:39 PM –> On Thursday, 25 June 2009 the Annual General Meeting of the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority resolved to appoint Conservative Councillor James Pearson of Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council, [...]
I am firmly of the opinion that I have officially gone past the plateau of my physical health and am now on a steady slope down a long hill that leads to the precipice of death. Yes, at the age of 38, I can no longer pretend that age is just a state of mind. A number of things have brought me to that conclusion, all of which Iwill list as a guide for you to monitor for the symptoms yourself. 1) Grey Hair I was very lucky to avoid any grey hair until just a few months ago. I ...
Okay, so here's a parlour game full of fun and frolics for all the family – name your top Lib Dem (or predecessor parties) MPs, living or dead, to fill your dream liberal cabinet. Here's the tougher criterion: your choices must also be team players, capable of hanging together rather than separately, rather than simply brilliantly egotistical individuals (hence my exclusion of Winston Churchill, for example). Feel free to suggest their perfect cabinet positions. My attempt is below. I've doubtless missed out some obvious choices, and misplaced some I've chosen. But, still, I can't help feeling my fantasy liberal cabinet ...
Take at look at the coal race on youtube... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B97_JSPLBx8
I becoming confused about where necessary restraint stops and the politics of envy begins. The latest boondoggle from the BBC, after the absurdly overblown coverage of the US Presidential election and the even more bloated coverage of the Beijing Olympic games now seems to be the huge numbers of BBC people "covering"- well at least present at the Glastonbury festival. Naturally the less well funded- or at least not publicly funded- sections of the media look with green eyes on the well upholstered expense accounts of the national broadcaster. In the face of repeated attacks from Murdoch media outlets, the ...
It is always good to see our colleagues entering into the spirit of events. The picture shows John Dodd who is the Lib Dem Councillor for Meols Ward (Crossens, Churctown and bits of Marshside) at yesterday's carnival.
Can those who have followed my Lib Dem oriented blog please note that having left the party I shall now blog at wwww.therestlessradical.com Lib Dems are welcome to subscribe, as will be radical social liberals, social democrats / democratic socialists and Greens. Thanks to those who've read my Progressive Politics blog. This will be deleted within the next seven days or so. Kind Regards, Barrie Wood (Torquay)
In the next couple of weeks, Moor Lane Junior School is beginning a new life as the Integrated Service for Children with Disabilities. In the past, parents of children with disabilities have had to endure a complicated set of procedures to make appointments and visit different professionals across the borough - GPs, consultants, nurses, therapists, social workers, special needs...
Last Monday I attended the "Commentariat vs Bloggertariat" event organised by Editorial Intelligence as I blogged about here. during the event, Martin Bright of The Spectator claimed that he had never read a "classic" blog post. I suggested that he might not have been looking in the right places and I promised that I would send him some. I then created a thread where I asked for suggestions. Some of you have responded to this and I have also received some suggestions in private. I have a couple of my own too. Exactly what constitutes a "classic" blog post is ...
From the Poll that I ran on this blog yesterday it has became clear that 44% of readers think this is a good blog and the rest either think its a bad or ugly blog. First of all looking at the results I am actually surprised that 44% of the readers think this drivel is actually good I thought it would have been 1%. The people who voted for this blog being either bad or ugly are in my opinion from the following categories: Unemployed and have nothing better to do except leave anonymous comments when they can and or ...
{gordon-brown-hijacks-national-armed-forces-day-act} I opened up the Sunday Telegraph of all newspapers this morning to be greeted with what amounts to 2 full pages of government propaganda with the headline "Nation salutes its heroes on the first Armed Forces Day". They campaigned for it - so I guess they wanted to shout about it. I didnt support it yesterday and I wont support it any time soon. Not because I am anti the armed forces. I actually think that, of their kind, they are pretty damn good. I dont support it because this is just another example of the government hi-jacking a ...
I am telling the truth readers a blog has been sold for $10 Million and it was something that only launched three years ago and I am impressed. The blog that cut its teeth into blogging back in 2007 when it became an interactive virtual notice board due to the writer's strike is now a site that has lead the way on what a blog can achieve. Now I am personally excited by this and amazed because like many I never would have thought that a blog could have sold for that much. Maybe I need to sell this blog ...
There were four sessions of the Equality Bill Committee last week, so for this post I've picked out the arguments around unequal pay between men and women. So to the normal anonymous commentators who take exception whenever I blog about discrimination about women - I expect to hear from you shortly! First up - hypothetical comparators. When you bring a case for discrimination in pay, currently the woman has to point to a similar job being done by a man - i.e. there has to be a real comparator to prove discrimination. This is quite different to any other case ...
Yesterday I wrote that Geddington has the best surviving Eleanor cross. But what is an Eleanor cross? I hear you ask. Eleanor of Castile was the wife of King Edward I of England. She died at Harby in Nottinghamshire in 1290. Edward followed her body to its burial in Westminster Abbey, and erected memorial crosses at the site of each overnight stop. Originally there were 12 Eleanor crosses. They were at Lincoln, Grantham, Stamford, Geddington, Northampton, Stony Stratford, Woburn, Dunstable, St Albans, Waltham, Westcheap, and Charing. Today only three - Northampton, Waltham and Geddington - surivive in any significant form. ...
My second post of the day on by-elections, since no-one in the world of politics seems to want to do anything interesting this weekend. A common complaint amongst the Lib Dem party faithful is how we don't seem to win as many by-elections as we used to. After every Crewe and Nantwich, every Henley, sore activists emerge to gripe that it isn't like it was in the good old days when the mere sight of a by-election was a sure sign of another Liberal or Lib Dem victory. Sorry, guys, your memory's playing tricks on you. You're recalling our great ...
Before Nick Griffin got elected I had a gut feeling that the fascist would get elected and he did but now from reading something at Conservative Home I am entertained. Cameron and Osborne have been already preparing for what they will do when they get elected and they are both thinking of moving in together into Number 10 and running a massive HQ. Cameron is a little to positive for my liking and I think he needs to sit back and take a breather. The Conservatives have a difficult 11 months ahead of them these next months will either make ...
I am very fond of the job "Campaign Co-oridinator" and wouldn't mind getting myself into Campaign management and even working at Cowley St so I ask the question could I one day fill Lord Rennard's boots at Cowley St. I am someone who studies campaigns and how successful campaigns are run a lot with the best example of a successful campaign being the campaign of Barack Obama and I also look into the tactics of the opposition e.g. the Tories especially now they have a lot of money from the Bank of Ashcroft and I am learning their campaign ways. ...
I just read a Tweet from Chris White, who is out delivering in Norwich North, and felt guilty at not being there myself. But Southend West will be sending a carload of volunteers during the week and I will be up there soon. April Pond will be a great candidate, I am sure. I spend some time surveying with April last year (leading up to the Euros) and was very impressed. She is very straightforward and direct, has a great sense of humour, and is a real person. She has had a life outside politics - (sadly) less often the ...
A few months ago I bought a couple of DVDs at a record fair in Leicester. They contained performances by British bands from the 1960s German television show "Beat Beat Beat". And most of them have found their way on to Youtube if you look. This is one of the best of those performances. Creation were a highly regarded group of the period who never quite found the success they deserved. And they were innovative too. Kenny Pickett, the singer here, would paint canvasses with aerosol paint during their stage show and then set fire to them. Eddie Phillips was ...
Nich Starling, the Norfolk Blogger - indeed, the Norfolk Blogger - is concerned that: a large number of doctors who want to be able to talk to patients about God and their faith ... are lobbying the GMC to allow them to do so. He writes:I put my faith in the doctor and years of medical training. What I don't want is a doctor giving me the impression that he or she really does not have the skills to deal with my problem and instead relies on "divine intervention".And: I hope the GMC will realise that a doctor espousing praying ...
Nick Cohen sums up many of my thoughts in the Observer today on moves by trade unions and some Government Ministers to ban members of the BNP from working as teachers. It is worth quoting it extensively: As statements of basic principle never win you friends in England, I will state the theoretical objection that it is unjust to penalise men and women for their political views without further evidence of wrongdoing only briefly and move on to the practical difficulties. According to its membership records, there are about 12,000 BNP members. Finding and firing them would be a task ...
A bit of background for any Voice readers who either have seen some of the slightly elliptical comments posted in earlier threads by a couple of people about the past actions of Rupert Read, the Green party candiate for the Nowich North by-election. Last year, Rupert Read accused a Liberal Democrat councillor, Judith Lubbock, of perjuring herself more than once. Given that perjury is a serious offence which can result in someone being jailed (see Jeffrey Archer), this is a pretty serious allegation. It was also wholly untrue. Rupert Read subsequently had to apologise and withdraw the allegations he had ...
The Telegraph has moved on from MPs' expenses to feature instead those who have other jobs. Their survey has uncovered the outside interests of dozens of MPs who hold down paid positions, ranging from legal and media work to crofting, and even grave digging. One earns £750 an hour for helping to organise an awards ceremony for the drinks industry, while another is paid more than £1,300 a day to provide business advice. John Hemming, the Liberal Democrat MP for Birmingham Yardley has pre-empted the story on his own blog. He went into Parliament as the founder and owner of ...
Regular readers of this blog will know that I don't have much time for organised religion, nor can I get my head round the idea that there's a god. I used to, but I don't any more. My view of religion is that it's a means of exercising social control. End of. I think we're more than capable of controlling ourselves without the outside interference of a vengeful deity. However, I do appreciate and respect that others, from all faiths, have a different view. I know people who receive great peace and comfort from their religion and that's fine by ...
So - the Mail on Sunday is sounding off about some of the work the Government is undertaking to prove or disprove the theory that discrimination exists in the form of applicants for jobs getting eliminated because they have names that give away their ethnicity, gender or age. Apparently the Department of Work and Pensions sent out two thousand applications using false names to judge the response. The Mail characterises it as to see 'if they are racist'. And how dare they waste businesses' time. And the CBI joins in. How dare they etc. Well - I say well done ...
The two Labour MP's Mr and Mrs Keen's empty home that we bought for them was taken over by squatters and they hung signs out of the windows saying "Reclaiming Your Taxes" and I agree with the protesters we should be allowed to reclaim our taxes. We paid for the empty home of Mr and Mrs Keen and the homeless in our society should be allowed to live in the home because it needs to be used and living it in the best way to use the property isn't it? Hat Tip to Guido who first reported it without pictures ...
CON 40 (+2) LAB 24 (-1) LD 17 (-1) The Conservatives have gone two points up from the last YouGov poll and the two point gain came from the Lib Dems and the Labour party. Labour are now 16% behind Labour which is bad news because this would mean the Tories have a 98 seat majority as UK Polling Reports swing meter has predicted and I think that's bad news. I am more afraid of a Tory government then the next person but if Labour and the Lib Dems don't up their game and show the Tories for what they ...
By-elections. Meat and drink to Liberal, Alliance and Liberal Democrat activists for decades. Money and effort is poured (with some circumspection) into all but the most hopeless. And yet we have so few these days. In the 2001-05 parliament there was just six by-elections. In each of 92-97 and 97-2001 there were fewer than 20. Compare that to the 40s, 50s and 60s. Atlee's 45-50 parliament: 52 by-elections. In the 50-51 parliament alone there were 16. 51-55 saw 49 by-elections. In the second half of the 1950s there were 52. In 59-64 there were 62. If you want a really ...
Sun 28th
09:45
I want a doctor whose abilities I can have faith in not a doctor who wants to talk about faith
There are, according to the BBC, a large number of doctors who want to be able to talk to patients about God and their faith and are lobbying the GMC to allow them to do so. Personally, I would find this very worrying. If I was going in to hospital I would want to be able to trust the doctor has the abilities to deal with my problems. I put my faith in the doctor and years of medical training. What I don't want is a doctor giving me the impression that he or she really does not have the ...
Earlier this week I did a blog post for e-Politix.com: Proof is in the pocket Perhaps you have to be a solicitor to understand why it is necessary to rewrite the law to say the same thing. Working on the Equality Bill has been like a labyrinthine legislative version of spot-the-difference. On the one hand a myriad of regulations and legislation spanning 40 years, and on the other a new single tome - the Equality Bill. To be fair, there are a few obvious differences - such as ending disparity of protections between different types of discrimination, most notably age. ...
Music Fest is a special fundraiser for the very valuable organisation Yate Sodbury & District Community Transport It's being held at Yate Town Football Club on Satursday 4 July from 4:00 pm until late. Headliners are: Back Trax, Crossfire, and Clayfield - and there's much, much more! For tickets £5 ring 01454 228706 or call 390 North Road, Iron Acton, Bristol BS37 7LW This year's Festival would not have been possible without the incredible support of all the volunteers, companies and bands who've so generously given their time.
Welcome to the Sunday outing for The Voice's near-daily Daily View series. As it's a Sunday, today it comes with a special bonus military film. 2 Big Stories Spotlight turns to MPs' outside earnings The Telegraph, in a surprise departure, runs a big story on MPs and money: A survey has uncovered the outside interests of dozens of MPs who hold down paid positions, ranging from legal and media work to crofting, and even grave digging. One earns £750 an hour for helping to organise an awards ceremony for the drinks industry, while another is paid more than £1,300 a ...
Labour's Charles Adje has now placed his declaration of interests on the boroughs' on-line system. Until now, the former council leader hadn't done so. The register can be viewed here.During the height of the controversy surrounding the publication of a Standards Board report into activities around the sale of the Welbourne Centre site in Tottenham, I went to look at his entry at the council offices.Apart from his membership of the Rosicrucian Order (which I think is some sort of freemasonry outfit) nothing leaped to my attention. But the newly published register has some entries for some companies of which ...
