Calm before the – well, not the storm, but the busy period. Got a half-day marketing training session here at our home office. Wish us luck. # Emerged unscathed from seminar, plenty of ideas, but now hungry and a bit raw. #
Sweltering temperatures did not deter the expectant crowd that attended the second Tim Garden memorial lecture, delivered this evening at Chatham House by Lord (Paddy) Ashdown, following wine and twiglets in the RIIA's St James's town house. The basement lecture hall itself — though windowless — is actually one of the few places in the capital [...]
Tue 30th
23:35
School 'transformation' pledged Ed Balls has set out plans to shake up schools in England.This sound...
<!–Last Updated – 30th June 2009 at 10:23 PM –> Addressing MPs, he said that the plans would "transform our school system to meet the challenges of the 21st century". The schools secretary explained that the government would match "continued investment with reform and higher expectations". Balls also said the government had a duty to [...]
Well it couldn't carry on, could it? I had a posting about this and now the defensive over-complicated obfuscation has come to an end as he's `standing down`.
Here's the email I've sent to Jenny Watson, Chair of the Electoral Commission: Dear Jenny Watson, I was rather surprised at the introduction to your speech earlier today to the UCL Constitution Unit where you painted what seems to me a very misleading picture of what is happening to turnout in British elections. I appreciate that is a fairly strong criticism, so I hope you won't mind me justifying it by taking parts of your speech and commenting on them in detail. After talking about recent political scandals, you said: One of the immediate measures of the impact of these ...
The Daily Mail reports that three players at Wimbledon have gone down with swine flu: The three, who are all believed to be getting better, are closely inter-connected. They are world number 29 doubles player Michal Mertinak, his fellow Slovakian, world number 22 Filip Polasek, and 25th-ranked American Travis Parrott.
Hat tip to Ordovicius for this story. It seems the Welsh Conservatives have not heard of the furore over Westminster MPs not really caring about their expenses.
I've just got back from Audit Committee, where I learned a new acronym. The Statement of Recognised Gains and Losses is known to the accountants as the Struggle.
Writing on Lib Dem Voice, Stephen Tall has noticed a point that I have made before. When Nick Clegg promises to scrap ID cuts he says that the money will be used to cut taxes. But when Chris Huhne promises to scrap ID cuts he says that the money will be used to put more bobbies on the beat. I raised this point with Chris Huhne when I interviewed him earlier this year, saying it was hard to believe we are an underpoliced society when you are at Westminster. There every doorway seems to harbour two armed officers. Chris's reply ...
With the school year ending on Thursday afternoon of this week, my weekly surgeries are now ended until the commencement of the new school term. This starts on Wednesday 19th August and therefore my surgeries recommence on Thursday 20th at Blackness Primary School at 6.15pm prompt. Meantime, I am available via my e-surgery at any time - esurgery@frasermacpherson.org.uk - or call me at home - 01382 459378 - many thanks!
News has just reached me that ASDA have withdrawn their planning application for New Barnet. More soon.
This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of the election of Margaret Thatcher and the legislation that epitomised her premiership, the Right to Buy (RTB). Enabling tenants to buy their own home brought to an end the post war and disastrous social democratic consensus that had allowed local councils to build and manage the huge housing estates that continue to blight our towns and cities today. With the introduction of Mortgage Interest Tax Relief at Source (MIRAS), millions of people who had previously been trapped in badly managed estates were helped into home ownership and in doing so, people took a ...
{kimberley} ... that make being a councillor frustrating and worthwhile - at the same time. Residents of Kimberley Terrace approached me back in February. They're a small terrace in the middle of Manor Lane, and didn't have a street sign. This had led to all sorts of confusion regarding deliveries and visitors, and after over 15 years of paying taxes to Lewisham Council, they thought a street sign was a reasonable thing to ask for. So did I - but predicatably, the first response from Lewisham was 'no'. Kimberley Terrace was a private development, and therefore not the Council's problem. ...
Just a few quick links here – possibly I'll do a BFAW tomorrow, but I'm finding it hard to think in this sweltering heat. Someone please turn off the light in the big blue room? Nina Stone has a review of Detective 854. Anton Vowl thinks that when Richard Desmond dies we should "stick a camera right [...]
Google have launched a thing called Friend Connect which I didn't take much interest into but after taking interest, testing it out I don't see the big fuss about it but many do and have added it to their blogs. Google Connect in my opinion is Google's bid at trying to create THE social networking site that will connect the whole of the Internet together and all websites and make the whole Internet usage for users into a massive Social Network. I like the idea but I don't think Google Connect is the technology that will make that possible, not ...
Photo by Sabine J Hutchinson http://www.virtual-shropshire.co.uk The Shropshire Star reported the other day that the Severn Valley Railway has introduced some regulations to cover its 1940s weekend because someone turned up in a previous year dressed as Adolf Hitler. The Severn Valley line runs from Bewdley to Bridgnorth. This reminded me of a Daily Telegraph report from 2005: The headquarters of Nazi Britain after Adolf Hitler's planned invasion was identified yesterday as a quiet market town in Shropshire.At first glance, Bridgnorth may not be the most obvious choice as the Führer's base for establishing his brave new world, but secret ...
Tue 30th
21:30
Huhne: scrap ID cards and put 10,000 bobbies on the beat. Three reasons why he's wrong
Amother day, another nail in the coffin of Labour's increeasingly half-hearted attempts to force the British people to carry ID cards and enrtust their personal details to a national government database. The BBC reports: Home Secretary Alan Johnson has dropped plans to make ID cards compulsory for pilots and airside workers at Manchester and London City airports. The cards were due to be trialled there – sparking trade union anger. ... But Mr Johnson said the ID card scheme was still very much alive – despite Tory and Lib Dem calls to scrap it. He said the national roll-out of ...
Some of these reviews can also be found on Amazon.In June 2009, I was blessed with unemployment so had lots of time. I read the following books: 1. The Hidden Family, by Charles Stross Carrying on from where the first book in the series left off, this is really the second half of the story that the previous volume started. As such, it makes some things rather clearer which were just confusing in the first installment, although not all - but then, there are more sequels to come. Overall, this and its predecessor combine to make one satisfying story which ...
Sometimes I look at President Obama and have to remember that I'm not watching an episode of the West Wing. The good stuff he's doing is actually real. I suppose it's only fair after spending 8 years fearing what Bush was going to do next - I mean, we had it all - torture, illegal wars, the terrible inaction after Hurricane Katrina. And what's this, a Pride event in the White House? And it's not just a Big Block of Cheese day event with the equivalent of Josh, Toby or CJ, it's with the President himself. Fantastic stuff - but ...
Tue 30th
21:16
George Osborne: we weren't exactly telling the truth when we said that we would protect education
And so now we know - education is just as vulnerable as anything else under a Conservative administration. In fairness, at least George is telling us the truth (probably). it could be that he'll only cut 8% of the budget on the Janus principle (if you tell someone you going to cut their arms and legs off, they'll be grateful if you only cut their legs off...). On the other hand, he might feel that we'll say, "Only 10%? Oh well, that's not too bad.", and it will be too late to stop him lopping 12% off of the education ...
The short answer is yes. The longer answer is that it is up to the voters. Just as the answer to the misuse of MPs' expenses it to require them to publish their claims, so the answer to concerns over their having jobs away from Westminster is to require them to declare these earnings and how much time they spend working for other employers. I do have doubts over the traditional assumption that it is possible to do a good job as an MP while pursuing a career at the bar. Equally, I see no problem in John Hemming devoting ...
The word "breakthrough" is being used comparatively there. I have given up counting how many months it is since Minnesotans voted in the election for their US Senator. It's eight. But at long last the Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled in ex-comedian Al Franken's favour. It's not decisive, however. Well, come on - what did you expect?! In a bizarre swop of positions, Franken's opponent, Norm Coleman is now featuring in late night comedy himself.
++BREAKING NEWS++ After 137 years as Prime Minister, Mr William Gladstone has finally called it a day and handed in his resignation to King David (of the Penhaligon - just in case you were wondering when he would crop up).His Majesty has graciously offered Mr Gladstone the post of Minister for relations with remote Hellenic Islands and certain oft-visited parts of Soho, a post which Mr Gladstone has gratefully accepted.His Majesty this afternoon requested the presence of Dame Shirley Williams at Buckingham Palace and duly offered his hand to Dame Shirley. Having kissed the proffered royal extremity, Dame Shirley is ...
Reuters reports that the advertising industry expects mobile advertising to grow by 45% per annum over the coming five years, from $3.1 billion now to $28.8 billion then, according to Ineum Consulting. The increasing prevelence of smartphones, and the falling costs of data upload make the use of Facebook and other social networks more and more tempting, especially as you can thus reach people in places where they go voluntarily. It will also allow for more targetted campaigns, more localised or small scale ones, making advertising more accessible for small businesses. On the other hand, if spend in this sector ...
The official opening yesterday of the £160 million Glendoe hydro power station in the hills above Loch Ness coincided with an announcement from Scottish and Southern Energy that it intends to create two new hydro schemes in the Great Glen. This is excellent news for those of us who believe that real effort should be made to ensure much more use of renewable sources of energy are used. Although we don't yet know any of the details of the proposed Great Glen schemes, projects like this are important if we are to make a real switch to greener energy. These ...
At the 2007 Lib Dem Conference I wrote a piece on the stalls for Comment is Free: By common consent, the most generous stall is the one run by the Trades Union Congress. It is handing out classy home office sets, including a fan that runs off your computer as you write.I got out my fan today. It still works and is keeping me cool as I write this. Thank you, brothers.
So, in my annoyance at losing the charger for my phone, I decided to look at my service provider's website. And... welll... I am getting one of these. It's costing me £2 a month more than I am paying at the moment (including data charges), but I am getting 500 minutes, unlimited texts, unlimited data, and unlimited calls to phones on the same network, rather than 300 minutes and 300 texts and having to pay a daily rate for data. And it's shiny! £2 a month isn't too much, is it? I'm very poor at the moment... Still, it's nice ...
Another day, another leaflet. This leaflet is A3, folded in to three, which is why it appears to have part printed upside down. When folded it is all the right way round. The score so far ? Liberal Democrat 3, Conservative 3, Labour 1, UKIP 1, and all the others zero. Labour are rather losing the ground war so far .Their only leaflet so far was far too negative and didn't appeal to Labour voters I know. Indeed some people I work with have still not got it. Anyone seen the Green leaflet ? If so post me a copy ...
Salford has recently been granted approx. £1.1m of Playbuilder funding from the DCSF to develop (build or improve) 22 play spaces across the city over the next two years (2009/10-2010/11). These play spaces are to be targeted to offer challenging, natural play opportunities for young people aged 8-13 in line with the National Playbuilder programme and Play [...]
UKIP have the face and name of their candidate in Norwich North adorning a handful of billboard sites in the constituency. Apparently the Greens too are to follow UKIP in doing this. My question is whether it is effective. At the last General Election in North Norfolk Iain Dale managed to get his face and name on the only large billboard in North Norfolk. Just as you drove in to Cromer from Norwich, there it was to greet you. I must admit it worried local Lib Dems in Cromer that it would "have an effect". However, our canvassing showed it ...
I am thinking of changing the name of this blog to The Scrapbook but because we live in a democracy and I am a Liberal I shall run a poll and depending on the results of the poll I shall decide if I should change the name of the blog or not. Should I change the name of the blog to "The Political Scrapbook"?(polls)
The GPRS signal is rather variable out here as we head around the north of Iceland so whether or not this post will get through immediately or wait in the queue for the signal is yet to be seen. Anyway, we did Norway last week, visiting Flam and Alesund. We were whale watching as we headed for the Faroe Islands on Saturday and we also experienced 24 hour daylight.We've done one stop in Iceland
Tue 30th
17:48
New Report by Influential Think Tank Recommends New Strategic Defence Review and Flexibility on Nucl...
The influential think-tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) today published a report on the UK's defence policy, which has made several recommendations which the Liberal Democrats have been calling for in recent years, particularly with regard to Trident. The report, Shared Responsibilities: A National Security Strategy for the United Kingdom, has recommended that the Government commission a Strategic Defence Review, which the Liberal Democrats have been pressing Government for many years on. On Trident, the report recommended that the future of the UK's nuclear deterrent should be considered in a Strategic Security Review that should be carried out ...
The last time the royal family was under such pressure, Princess Diana had died, Prince Phillip had killed her and the Queen was dancing on the grave*. For the Sun has revealed that taxpayers coughed up £250,000 to renovate a four-bedroom apartment at St. James' Palace (or as the Sun puts it, Princess Bea's university digs). Truly investigative journalism at its finest: the Royal Family cost money and renovating royal palaces costs even more. Who'd have thought it. Perhaps I'm being a little slow, but isn't that what the monarchy is all about? We get a posh family for the ...
Before going on holiday, I found a bit of time to go through the claims and receipts of Labour MPs in Gateshead. And some very interesting reading they make. So here's the first in a series of interesting highlights.Blaydon MP David Anderson paid a company from his taxpayer funded office allowance £2056.25 in March 2006 for "consultancy, constituency office support and development, staff
Jeff Immelt, boss of GE, the World's largest manufacturing company, has been talking at the London Business School. He is convinced that in the US "a 30-year transition from a manufacturing export-led economy to an importing service-based one typified by the growth of Wall Street is over and has left America damaged". He believes that the workings [...]
Like many Lib Dems, the prospect of bringing in a fairer voting system makes me all a-flutter. We know that first-past-the-post is unrepresentative, and the recent impetus towards reform (if I may put it so tacitly) has opened the door to the overhaul of our electoral system. However, it appears as though the door has been partially blocked by the baby gate of Alternative Vote Plus, the brainchild of the Jenkins Commission. Akin to a less proportional version of the Additional Member System used in Scotland, Wales and in London Assembly elections, AV+ would make our voting system slightly more ...
I gave my Shaking Hands with History talk to St Albans U3A (University of the Third Age) today. I followed Animal Architecture and the next talk in their series of talks is Open Wide: A Short History of Dentistry. They have eclectic interests, these U3Aers. It was perfectly sweltering outside and the inside of the shimmering green main hall of the Highfield Centre was like a furnace, so I am grateful to them for at least not giving the impression of going to sleep. Because I always do the talk ex-tempore, it can sometimes be a voyage of discovery for ...
I have just read through Ofcom's ruling of the disgraceful Jeni Barnett LBC radio phone in show on MMR from January this year. The ruling is here (you need to scroll down to about 80% of the way down to read it). I blogged about this show earlier this year with respect to Ben Goldacre's coverage of it and also gave my views. Basically a totally ill informed woman allowed her prejudices about a (non-existant) link between the MMR triple vaccine and autism to overtake her professional judgement. She was hectoring and rude to the callers who disagreed with her. ...
Sorry this post is late (as if anyone noticed). I got distracted by stuff. A lousy excuse, but that's all you're getting. The All Wales Convention has made an appearance on a few blogs this week following the final meeting this week. Alwyn Ap Huw believes that the recommendation will be a powerful 'not yet', which I doubt is the result most in the welsh political world are looking for. More info on the final meeting can be found on Betsan Powys' blog. With the new speaker now elected, and thankfully not being Margaret Beckett, Tom Bodden of the Daily ...
Ed Balls has made a real Balls of things by calling up Coffee House blogger Fraser Nelson demanding that he takes down a blog post from the site. This has amused me and has made me chuckle so here comes some pointers for Mr Balls on how to handle the media and then bloggers. First of all Mr Balls the blogosphere can not get controlled, you can try, try and try again but you will never win and you will never control it that's because their isn't a Editor to pass the story by and ask his/her opinion on if ...
Like yesterday's Planet of the Dead, last week's Doctor Who DVD release is a holiday episode in which a bus comes to grief travelling between planets, and which sets a precedent by shooting in a glamorous new country - Wales! Strange scheduling, really; a six-week gap between the May and June DVDs, then three in three weeks. One of Sylvester McCoy's first stories as the Doctor, this is one that divides opinion, featuring 1950s music, holiday camps and slapstick genocide... "But the brochure shows a space cruiser - not an old bus." "Old bus? This is a very expensive conversion!" ...
It looks like this article by the always excellent Fraser Nelson on the Spectator blog this morning which accused Ed Balls of lying about the government planning to reduce national debt over the next few years has provoked a strong reaction from Mr Balls. He rang Fraser and "demanded" that he should take the article down! There is a good summary by Fraser himself in this subsequent blog post. I just wanted to briefly focus on one aspect of this spat that Fraser sums up here directed at Mr Balls: Five years ago, you could lie like this on the ...
A new conspiracy has started that suggests Michael Jackson is not dead and his identical other has died and it was his identical other that was ill. Michael according to the conspiracy has been seen by fans and they believe that they have seen him. Personally I don't know what to say about this conspiracy because clearly it is wacky at some levels and you never know it could be true. All I know is Michael's fan's keep on remembering him. The Conspiracy creators have even created a website called Michael Jackson Sightings...
No offence intended. ;-) ...and many apologies to Lord Bonkers for doing a post about cricket without any mention of the .....-..... method. Many congratulations to Dickie Bird, who's just unveiled a statue of himself where he was born in Barnsley (it was erected by benefactors in the town). There's not many people who have a statue raised to themselves while they are still alive. Indeed, Sir Michael Parkinson and Geoffrey Boycott have not been afforded this honour and they are both, by strange coincidence, Barnsley contemporaries of Bird. There's a great video of the occasion here from the Yorkshire ...
Today's Times reports on the growth of Twitter and Facebook among councillors, noting in particular the work of one Lib Dem councillor/blogger, Daisy Benson: Daisy Benson, a Liberal Democrat member of Reading Borough Council, used Facebook to encourage young people to take part in a scrutiny review of the standard of private rented housing in the area. "I used it because the issue we were looking at particularly affected students and young people and it's a good way to reach them." Benson set up a Facebook group and listed the consultation questions. The group attracted more than 80 members. Among ...
Wallington town centre will get a £2 million facelift as a result of work that I have been doing with Transport for London (TfL), who will pay for the scheme. Improvements will begin in the summer 2010 and a major consultation with local residents will start this summer to find out exactly what you would like to see happen to the town centre. I have been working with TfL for more than eighteen months to pull this project off and I'm delighted that we are now sure of the money. But we haven't finalised exactly what the work will include ...
Gordon Brown's announcement yesterday that he will find an additional £2.1 billion to put into building affordable homes has posed a bit of a dilemma for the Welsh Assembly Government. Journalists were told that this money will mean an extra 20,000 homes will be built over the next two years on top of the 90,000 already in the pipeline but what will be the impact for Wales? How we assess that depends on two things: is this new money and what will be the Welsh Government's Barnettised share of it? The Guardian indicates that the answer is not the one ...
Work has finally started to link traffic lights at the junction of Woodcote Road / Stafford Road and at Beddington Gardens. As a result traffic will move through Wallington more smoothly, reducing pollution and helping to keep the street quieter. The work, which is being carried out by Transport for London (TfL), has been delayed for three years! According to TfL this was because they had to reorganise their staff and then priority was given to Central and East London. There was then a further delay when TfL suggested that we added the lights south of Woodcote Road by the ...
The first thing that has struck me is the the dearth of Labour Councillors compared to past years. I remember the time when almost every second person you bumped into a little red spot on their badge. Today they seem more likely to be wearing a tee shirt proclaiming 'I'm backing the Fourth Option-Council Housing'. There is no sight of the young professionals from the South of England who used to make up a large portion of the Labour group. At breakfast I couldn't help but overhear three Labour Councillors from a Met council loudly discussing the agenda. 'Leader, is ...
I often talk about the influence my dad had on my cultural upbringing, but not so much my mum. Time to rectify that, I think. My dad (and my brothers) may have been the major influence on my film and TV tastes, but my mum (and one of my brothers) was the driving force behind my taste in music, and my mum and dad can share equal blame for my book geekery. Our house was crammed with books when I was growing up. Every room (including my own) had shelves, mostly floor to ceiling saving gaps for windows, and the ...
Glasgow's Labour Council has been closing schools in the city, much to the concern of local parents. One group of parents decided to occupy a school earmarked for demolition over the weekend. The reaction of the City council? It turned the CCTV cameras away from the estate they were supposed to protect to film the demonstrators, which they had no right to do during a peaceful protest. If you were cynical, you might think that the Council was trying to stir up trouble which they would then film. Shows you where Labour's gut instinct is, though, and it's not a ...
I'll just draw your attention to this Guardian article about Labour selecting its candidate for the Glasgow North East by-election (the ex-speaker's seat). It starts: "Labour has tried to seize the initiative in the Glasgow North East byelection forced by the resignation of Michael Martin by selecting a prominent local activist as the party's candidate." Now I can't imagine them starting an article about the SNP (or LibDem) selection in the same way, including copious standard fighting quotes from the candidate and then go onto to repeat an non-story smear about Labour from the SNP press office like they do ...
*Evidence of the stress engendered by moving house No.94; it even managed to stop me blogging about trains...*For a railway-inclined politician it's often difficult to know who to hold in more contempt. On the one hand there's Network Rail, who I described at a recent scrutiny committee meeting as "the least imaginative, least ambitious organisation ever dreamt up by a group of human beings" (and
Fresh Squeezings from the veins of the internet!Shoelaces! Truly the internet is the fount of all knowledge! Did you know that there are 17 distinct methods of tying your shoes? Or more than 36 of actually threading the laces before you tie them? Amazing! What Privatisation has done to the buses. Joe Otten is mad as hell and he's not going to take it any more. Fantasy Liberal Cabinet takes on a Life of its own Remember the other day when I did my Fantasy Liberal Cabinet? The Honourable Lady Mark has taken it one step further and made a ...
David Cameron is someone who I regard as being a pain in the a** of modern politics buts that's just my opinion but this new comment by Mr Cameron really does set the level of low blows in politics. Cameron has said that Labour's cuts in spending will lead to rioting in the streets and this seems to not get through to me so it would be helpful if someone could help. Cameron is the leader of Her Majesties Opposition and yet he is hinting that the general public will riot against HM's democratically election government. Mr Cameron aren't you ...
An interesting clash of health and safety vs risk-taking views today at St. Sidwells Primary School in Exeter over the subject of goggles in swimming lessons. The school are supporting the view of the British Association of Advisors and Lecturers in Physical Education (BAALPE), which states: "Head teachers should inform parents and carers that goggles can [...]
I have lost the charger for my mobile phone. If you have sent me a text message or tried to ring me in the last 24 hours, and wondered why I didn't respond, this will be it. I can't afford a new one for a couple of weeks, so if it's urgent, ring me on the landline, or go via Mat. I have three invite codes for DW. Anyone want one who hasn't got one yet? There's still a bunch of you non-Dreamwidthers posting truncated feeds or bare URLs. I'm looking at you, Oranjepan! I am going to have a ...
Just a quick reminder that this evening Cllr Kirsten Bayes, myself and other Members of the CCEA Scrutiny Panel will be quizzing representatives from First Great Western Trains and others about service performance over the past 12 months. The meeting is being held in the Council Chamber at 6.30pm and is open to members of the public and press. This follows a public meeting which was held last year following a successful Lib Dem motion to Council which called on First Great Western Trains to do more to improve the poor levels of service it was providing commuters and rail users in Reading. At a meeting to plan the event a few ...
The Western Mail has been scouring through the searchable database on Assembly Members' expenses and have come up with some more interesting facts. They have led with the fact that nine Tory AMs spent more than £6,500 of taxpayers' money on a 'fact-finding' trip to Brussels staying in what bills itself as the city's best luxury hotel. The paper also refers to the fact that Plaid Cymru's two AMs for South Wales Central placed an advert in their own party's conference handbook for £470. The Conference was held in Aberystwyth which is some way from the region they represent. This ...
{chinasmoke} China is often heralded as the new champion of free markets. And there is no doubt that it has some of the most liberal trade rules in the world. But sometimes adoration of the People's Republic can lead commentators to forget that, even in the economic sphere, China is incredibly interventionist. It also remains a textbook case of what happens when bureaucrats rule. But the latest proposal appears to truly beggar belief. In fact, if it did not appear in several independent sources, I would believe that it was a satire. Chinese government officials have been ordered by the ...
The Met Office, in conjunction with the Department of Health, has issued a 'Level 2 - Heatwave Alert'. This is apparently based on a 60% probability that the threshold maximum temperature (30°C) and minimum night-time temperature (15°C) will be reached on at least 2 consecutive days and the intervening night.Heatwave AdviceHeatwaves can be dangerous, especially for the very young, very old or
Oh dear – there was the harrying of the BBC regarding our own `rights` of expression. The glaring omission in the past year has been the lack of proper programming regarding the Economy. Where were the debates with the three Economics spokesmen with neutral academics to hand? Yes, after banging our heads against brick walls [...]
I'm not sure I've got it quite right, but it's a start:Jo Grimond, Prime MinisterHelena Kennedy, Constitutional Affairs and Lord ChancellorPaddy Ashdown, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and First Secretary of StateRoy Jenkins, Home OfficeJohn Maynard Keynes, Chancellor of the ExchequerWilliam Beveridge, Work and PensionsVince Cable, Business, Innovation and SillsMing Campbell, DefenceHerbert
The Government has not denied that the cost of delaying the aircraft carriers by up to two years is one billion pounds. In fact a senior Labour minister admitted this last night to me. That's a twenty five per cent increase in costs.The decision the MOD faced was either to cancel other defence contracts or delay the carriers in order to adhere to annual spending limits. Therefore value for money has been sacrificed in order to mop up after Labour's mismanagement of the public finances and the expensive Iraq war.Yet, the delay, and the resultant cost increase, also has consequences ...
Over at The Times, former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown has co-authored an article with former Labour defence secretary George Robertson – they were co-chairs of the IPPR's Commission on National Security in the 21st Century, whose report was published today – arguing that old-fashioned thinking is hampering British security policy today. Here's their all-encompassing introduction: The global recession is likely to worsen the international security environment considerably. It is already making many weak and poor states weaker and, as both 9/11 and recent events in North Korea have shown, the consequences flowing from weak, fragile and pariah states are ...
There has been talk in the last few days about outside jobs for MPs and how there is likely to be a clamp-down on them. I knew this would come; after the MPs expenses scandal it was a natural follow up. Some Tories seem to be complaining that any restrictions in this area would disproportionately affect them and that Labour is politicking on this issue. They are probably right but I have little sympathy with them. Being an MP should be more than a full time job. There is so much to do that my mind boggles when I hear ...
Yesterday's Radio 4 'Today' programme saw Thought for the Day followed by a new slot - 'I'm the Chancellor'. Yesterday the slot was filled by Peter Mandelson, who announced that the Comprehensive Spending Review would be postponed until after the next General Election. Mandelson said that he "believed that the Chancellor has made that judgement", [...]
Bath Lib Dem MP Don Foster has today written to the Chief Executive of Bath Tourism Plus, Robin Bischert, questioning the tendering process that led to the catering contract for the Bath Christmas Market being awarded to an Oxfordshire company. Don has asked for a list of the criteria that were used to make the decision, as well as how much weighting was given to each issue. ...
Nick Clegg has described Gordon Brown's policy plans as "a hotch potch of unrelated Whitehall schemes" with no unifying" visi on from a prime minister who was "running out of steam". Mr Clegg said both the Prime Minister and David Cameron were treating the voters as if they were children who were "too young to know the truth". He said:...
Given the importance of protecting our troops and ensuring they are given the right equipment for their welfare and safety, the Government needs to move more swiftly to address concerns regarding the amount of protection Snatch Land Rovers provide servicemen. Snatch Land Rovers have come under criticism for being lightly armed and insufficient in protecting soldiers from mines or improvised...
The 'hallowed' practice of trial by jury could be under threat following a ruling by Lord Chief Justice Judge requiring the trial of four men accused of armed robbery to be heard solely by a judge. This seems to be undermining the principles that we all hold dear to heart the right to be tried by 12 of our fellow citizens. to read the full story follow the link HERE ...
This is the policy brief the OECD has put out about the UK. It seems pretty empty to me - deal with NHS productivity, improve active labour market policies, deal with the malfunctioning planning system - all good supply-side ideas, but no real dilemmas are confronted. If we get a "W" recession, should we use fiscal policy again? Philip Stephens kicks back against Mervyn King's power-grab: if the Bank being in charge of systemic risk is such a good idea, why were they so bad at doing something about it before? Yet another important body reports on what to do ...
Gordon Brown yesterday set out his policy plans for the next year, with headline proposals including: 110,000 affordable homes by 2011; changes to council house allocation rules which may give more preference to local residents under-25s out of work for a year must accept a job or training or face benefit cuts new guarantees on hospital treatment and school tuition; communities to have say on police priorities and siting of CCTV. Here's the Hansard transcript of how Nick Clegg responded for the Lib Dems: Mr. Nick Clegg (Sheffield, Hallam) (LD): The Prime Minister and the leader of the Conservatives have ...
The BBC announces today that 58% of Scots want a referendum on independence but a majority favour the union. That's an interesting outcome which I doubt the nationalists would welcome but, as most nationalist imbeciles tend eventually to find to their cost, people really aren't as stupid as they would like. Let's hope the SNP have their referendum in 2010. I would still like to see a British referendum on Scottish independence as I'd say it's not a decision for the Scots alone. The result, divided between the nations and aggregated, would, I think, be quite a surprise, particularly for ...
After having this comment posted on my previous fantasy cabinet post I thought sh** because I had forgot to keep any women in the cabinet and just got rid of them even though their was only one from Stephen's cabinet. So here is now the reshuffled cabinet: Charles Kennedy - Prime Minister Vincent Cable - Chancellor of the Exchequer Afzal Anwar (Currently a PPC) - Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Roy Jenkins - Home Secretary Lembit Opik- Justice William Beveridge - Work & Pensions David Lloyd George - Health Nick Clegg - Education Chris Huhne - Environment, Food and Rural Affairs ...
Liberal Democrat justice spokespeople north and south of the border have been investigating the growing instances of self harm amongst women prisoners. In both England and Scotland, these incidents have pretty much doubled over five and four years respectively. What sort of justice system is it that takes women, who desperately need treatment and support for mental health conditions, away from their homes for offences as trivial as stealing food to feed their kids or not paying their tv licences? Where they have commmitted serious offences, where's the rehabilitation and support to help them turn their lives around so that ...
A hung Parliament is something that I am predicting but the new poll has shown that will be case after I ran the results through UK Polling Reports Predictor. The results for the poll are: Conservatives 36% (-3) Labour 25% (+3) Lib Dems 19% (+1) And if you run these results through the UK Polling Report Calculator the results are: Conservatives 323 Seats (+125) Labour 238 Seats (-118) Lib Dems 57 Seats (-5) I think these results should be a wake up call for the Labour party and the Lib Dems, the Lib Dems need to make sure that we ...
2 Big Stories A high-powered think tank report for the IPPR by Paddy Ashdown and oher defense gurus has questioned expenditure on trident and conventional forces: The UK should consider slashing defence spending by up to £24bn and revisit plans to renew its Trident nuclear deterrent, a think-tank report says. Meanwhile, the row over future cuts-and-spending continues in Britain, over-shadowing Gordon Brown's new Building Britain;s Future document: Brown unveiled a manifesto entitled Building Britain's Future and a draft Queen's speech containing 12 bills. The overall aim was to downgrade Whitehall public service targets in favour of individual rights, with some ...
The BBC has the story: The date for the Norwich North by-election, triggered by the resignation of Labour MP Ian Gibson, is expected to be set for 23 July. ... He had a majority of just over 5,000 at the last election. The BBC understands that the writ for the election will be moved on Tuesday, with the poll set to be held two days after Parliament breaks up for its summer recess on 21 July. Clearly Labour wants to get the expected loss of this seat out of the way at the height of summer, when MPs are away ...
A couple of months ago I wrote about the very scary proposed new Irish blasphemy law which could mean the likes of me being fined 100,000 euros for, well, uttering anything that could cause outrage amongst followers of any religion. While I see this law as an attack on freedom of expression, there's nothing that I, as a Scot, can do about it. Happily, though, in the last couple of months, a vigorous campaign has been mounted against it. It's on Facebook, and Twitter. They've also done the old fashioned thing of going round talking to people and holding meetings ...
As Katherine Hannah announced twice on last night's drive time BBC Radio Tees programme, Alan Milburn, the high-earning, low-activity MP for Darlington, declined the BBC's invitation to appear on her radio prog. He wouldn't even give them a written statement about his decision to stand down at the next election. So I went on instead.Katherine and I talked about Alan's surprise decision to quit
The Reform Act 1832 is often referred to as the start of modern democracy - abolishing rotten boroughs, giving seats to the industrial cities and extending the size of the electorate to 20% of adult men. It was also ferociously opposed by the Tories. Why is this relevant? It is because EVERY item of constitutional and parliamentary reform over the last 177 years, whether it is secret ballots, votes for women, limiting the powers of the House of Lords, or assemblies for Scotland and Wales, has been opposed and argued against by the Conservative party. Once in power, the Tories ...
Cross-posted from The Wardman Wire: The question of who can stand for election to a local council should be clearly defined and easy to understand - so that those new to politics can be candidates, so that voters don't end up with a false choice where not all the candidates are actually allowed to be candidates and so that elections can be about choices between people and policies, rather than battles between lawyers. In England and Wales the law was last codified and laid down in the 1972 Local Government Act. With the passage now of nearly forty years, plus ...
The anniversary of the Stonewall Riots has been noted already in Lib Dem circles, and today Tristan Mills draws attention to a rather depressing reaction from a town in Texas. {uganda} Alas more examples of mindless homophobia from other continents speckle our media, and I've noticed two solely around the issue of football. So yes, this is another football post. And there will be more. The first of these sorry tales was reported in the Indie last week - a Turkish referee has been hounded out of the eastern town of Tabzon for having the temerity to favour sleeping with ...
I nearly choked on my porridge this morning as I was reading the latest post from LadywoodBlue, in which he claims the Conservatives could take Ladywood at the next local election. You can play with statistics and pie charts all you want, but the facts from the European elections were: The Labour AND TORY vote went down. The Liberal Democrat vote went up. For the Tories to be losing votes at a time when they should be roaring ahead on the back of national swing, shows Ladywood will not easily be turned blue. Meanwhile, as the Tories are playing with ...
Rob Fenwick asks where all the MPs are when they are supposed to to be considering the Parliamentary Standards bill.Peter Black AM thinks that Gordon Brown is in denial about spending cuts.Donal Blaney says that given that a policy that he espoused 10 years ago and caused much opprobrium to be heaped upon him has now effectively been adopted by the Labour government that he is owed an apology.Douglas Carswell thinks that the PM's plans are "washed up and knackered". Plus ca change Douglas.And Paul on Liberal Burblings has an interesting insight into South Carolina politics. I am thinking of ...
So, after Sir Fred the Shred and the Government bailing the bank out you would assume they would learn how to do deal with our money? Oh no, they've gone and spent £300,000 on one suite at Wimbledon but so ashamed of it they asked for all of the signage to be removed! In the London Evening Standard a RBS spokeswoman said - the deal was a long-standing agreement and insisted it was customers rather than staff who were using the lounge. Are you a RBS customer and did you get an invite? Vince Cable MP said: "RBS executives simply ...
The above headline is why I love the internet. A brilliantly bonkers (spoof) rumour is doing the rounds in the wilder shores of the world-wide web, namely that Michael Jackson was killed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to distract attention from Iran. Think about it, the "King of Pop"'s death was perfectly timed for the wobbling Iranian regime. Just as reports of its post-election clampdown were provoking howls of protest in the West, and pushing the previously hesitant President Obama to say was "appalled and outraged", Jacko's death sucked media attention from Iran to Bel Air. Even more tellingly, "Michael Jackson RIP" ...
This evening, David Anderson MP hosted a reception on the terrace of the House of Commons in honour of the High Representative of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in the United Kingdom, Bayan Rahman (who worked formerly for the Financial Times, before assuming her diplomatic function). There was a good turnout by members of both Houses [...]
Monday 29th June A roller coaster day with emotions as I went to Maggie Clay's memorial service in Stockport. So sad that she had died; so pleased to see old friends; and the realisation that she lives on. On the way there I re-read "Action with the ALC, Ten years at The Birchcliffe Centre" by Phoebe Winch. Nostalgic, but it reminded me so strongly about what I was doing and why I...
{hpim0131} After years of lobbying, the Council have finally written to confirm that Denton Road will be resurfaced next month. This is long overdue as the road surface has been disintegrating for years, making it increasingly dangerous - particularly for cyclists. I've written to the Council several times since I was elected asking for action on Denton and other substandard roads. According to the Council letter the works will last from the 6th till the 8th July and will involve the full closure of the road. Residents will be asked to move their vehicles away - or face having them ...
So, you want MOAR stuff about {[info - personal]} amazing_holly, do you? Right. Here is an afternoon in the life of a busy six year old, after mummy picks her up from choir practise. First was trying to teach her to tie shoelaces on her new shoes (fake converse, in black with white rubber, and shiny butterflies in rainbow colours on the canvas) when she got changed out of her school clothes. This went... Interestingly. She's not really got the hang of perseverance yet. After her second attempt, she got the pouty face, and said Oh it's NO GOOD! I ...
A few years ago a friend gave me a copy of The Last Englishman - Byron Rogers' biography of J. L. Carr. A Yorkshireman, Carr was a primary school headmaster from Kettering who had great success late in his life as a novelist and publisher of eccentric small books. One chapter of the biography deals with Carr's attempt to save the Medieval church of St Faith's at Newton - Newton in the Willows, if you prefer its more romantic name - near Geddington. When he discovered it in the 1960s it was in the process of being closed down by ...
Today may be the day that the Italian job at Livingston FC finally goes from tittering on the edge to the big drop over the edge. All season long the chairman Angelo Massone has been reassuring fans that there is nothing to worry about. That there was no financial problems to concern ourselves with. However, what he didn't realise is that with a family club like Livingston a lot of us die hard fans know people who are employed or who's services are used by the club. When club employees who are ever present both home and away fail to ...
