Went for a walk in an attempt to clear my head and improve efficiency. In this regard it succeeded. But back has now locked up. Pain... # For them as like small balls of squawking fluff, see this new site that we built and sent live yesterday for a client: http://bit.ly/SE8bb # This heat is really doing for me... can't work. Reduced to watching the tennis. And lunch – I'm 'aving 'oops. # FINALLY at 9pmish it's getting cool enough to start work for the day... writing up the notes from yesterday's marketing session. #
Most Local authorities apportion their votes according to the strength of the various parties elected to them. I have 2 of Sefton's 4 votes 1 each being given to the two smaller parties. Not so it appears with Meseyside Passeger transport authority-or what ever it is called nowadays. The Chair Mark Dowd gets the lot even though Labour haven't even got a majority of the councillors and are only kept in power by an arrangement with the Tories! One Labour councillor, who was telling me this, complained that Dowd simply didn't 'get it' A quick read of the auditors report ...
At the LGA today we had Sandi Toksvig promoting the campaign for more women councillors and as part of that she spoke at the Lib Dem group meeting this afternoon. She had a very good joke about stress and a rectal thermometer which will doubtless be recycled so I will not spoil it by repeating it here. Sadly the leadership had managed to have a 'top table' full of men (see photo). Apparently of the 4300 Lib Dem councillors in England a third are women and a third of our group leaders are women. Altho that is progress it is ...
Labour could be heading for its worst general election defeat since 1931, according to Eastleigh MP and Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary Chris Huhne, who was speaking at the annual dinner of Barnet LibDems at the National Liberal Club this evening. That election took place during the worst economic crisis previous to the one we are now in. [...]
I'm going to write about what John did today instead. An important planning meeting was being held to decide on whether to go ahead with wind turbines near to Hilton and Seamer. It was a very difficult issue as he is very strongly committed to every opportunity for increasing the use of renewable energy. We would have a wind turbine on our house if practical (it isn't we've checked) and not...
There is an interesting (and well briefed) article in today's Daily Mail, on Tory plans for 'the most far reaching changes to the economy in a generation.' One of the ideas being floated by the Tories is to slash corporation tax, which will be paid for by preventing companies from off-setting corporate tax against debt interest. It is precisely this 'tax loophole' that private equity funds use to dodge this business tax. Private equity funds use borrowing to acquire very profitable businesses (that were paying high levels of corporation tax.) But as the new owners are able to offset these ...
It is no great surprise to see National Express handing back the East Coast Main Line franchise. British railway companies stopped making profits around 1914, yet they were supposed to raise enough from the line to satisfy their shareholders and pay £1.4bn to the government over the next seven-and-a-half years. I doubt that National Express will be the last company to find there is no future in the privatised railway business. It is not as if the private railway feels more free. Quite the reverse. Ever since privatisation railway stations have been festooned with notices warning the companies' customers about ...
And she's fab! The coolest bit so far has been transferring all my contacts over via bluetooth in about 3 seconds. No fuss, no mess. And now that the two phones are synchable, I should be able to do that with MP3s too, so no need to swap memory cards about. Also, it'll do internet via WLAN as well as the mobile network, so when I am at home I can connect to the internet via my home broadband. And she has a GPS and maps, so I can use her as a satnav! I haven't had any issues with ...
I think my friend Dave has put it best... As far as I can see there has been no substantive change in policy here. Originally, it was going to be compulsory to go on the ID database when you applied for or renewed a passport, but otherwise 'voluntary', at least at first, but you'd definitely get [...]
Health & Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee This committee was an additional meeting focusing entirely on mental health services. It was an important session as we had managed to pull together all the key mental health commissioners and providers so that the committee had the opportunity to ask questions covering the whole spectrum of mental health issues. There [...]
Last night's Imagine on BBC1 provided a fascinating picture of one of Britain's greatest artists, David Hockney. It followed him over a three-year period, covering his move back from Los Angeles to his native Yorkshire. It also showed him at work for the first time and provided a real insight into his creative process. The programme showed enough of his work for us to be able to see what a truly exceptional artist Hockney is. From the sun-drenched pictures in LA, through his experiments with photo collage and on to his excellent Yorkshire landscapes, Hockney has been a real artistic ...
Whilst my fantasy Lib Dem blogger Secretary of State for Transport will doubtless by delighted to see the back of National Express, an opportunity presents itself. No, I'm not calling for nationalisation, not by the back door or even the front. However, we are presented with a chance to see if there is a better way to run a railroad. Is vertical integration the best solution? Is there a level of subsidy that allows fares to be set so as to encourage a switch from air or road to rail? Is open access viable? My rather touchy free market friends ...
Bisexuals want everyone to remember that they exist. They'd like people to be accepting of their sexuality, and they'd like the myths and stereotypes associated with it to go away. But primarily, they want to people to say 'straight, gay, lesbian and bisexual', and recognise them all as things a person could be. They're not going to quibble with that list growing longer, with asexuals, pansexuals and sapiosexuals joining it, or even with it being referred to as the Whole Sort Of General Sexuality Mish Mash, as long as it's recognised that some people fancy both men and women, and ...
On Tuesday evening I blogged about the speech given by Jenny Watson, Chair of the Electoral Commission, criticising her comments about turnout in British elections: 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. You can read my detailed comments in the original ...
Following the sad news of Mollie Sugdon's death I've just been having a surreal exchange of Tweets with Eric Joyce the MP for Falkirk over Twitter. So for Caron and others here is the catch up of Mrs Slocombe inspired thinking and Tweeting. Obviously we all know that Miss Brahams (Wendy Richard) had also passed away in February this year, if not I'm sorry to have broken the news to you. So with Mollie's death that mean that the Womenswear Department of Grace Brothers is now bereft of it's staff. We know that the man most associated with the 'I'm ...
Hand me the razor blades - Brown's still Prime Minister. It means, on the one hand, I win the £10 I bet against Mark Thompson who thought Brown would be gone before the end of June. Mark pays his gambling debts, if anyone's interested {;)} At the time I thought this bet was a win-win for me - if Brown went then, hell, Brown went! If Brown stayed, woo, £10 for me. Yet, on this particular occasion, having my own particular impression of Brown's psychology validated like this isn't something to be celebrated. It doesn't feel like win-win. It feels ...
Scrutiny Overview Committee The main issue on this meeting's agenda was an update on the Sutton Life Centre. The meeting papers incuded a detailed report on the construction and operation of the Centre together with the detailed Operating/Business Plan and Equalities Impact Assessment. Superintendent Warren Shadbolt, head of the Safer Sutton Partnership introduced the item as project [...]
From the Lib Dems 4 Parliament site, here are the PPC selections closing during July: * North East Hampshire - PPC (07 Jul 2009) * Basildon and Billericay - PPC (10 Jul 2009) * South Basildon & East Thurrock - PPC (10 Jul 2009) * Thurrock - PPC (10 Jul 2009) See libdems4parliament.org.uk/events/ for more details.
Mollie Sugden has died at the age of 86, says BBC News. There is a good interview with her on Teltronic: As most fans of the series will know, Mrs Slocombe was always deeply concerned for the welfare of her pussy. The writers got a lot of mileage out of this and it became something of a standing joke. In fact, there was even a book published a couple of years ago entitled Mrs Slocombe's Pussy.One assumes that there was no Mr Slocombe to care for the feline. "Well it was certainly true that you never knew at one time ...
Eighteen months ago, we were being told that the credit crunch was a southern phenomenon, something which will hit the investment bankers in London but not necessarily the rest of the country. Not anymore. According to the Centre for Cities think tank, the north is being hardest hit with what they call the marginal cities (such as Sunderland and Hull) suffering far more than the core cities (like Manchester and Leeds). Monthly unemployment figures seem to be confirming this trend. This is one of the most bizarre and unexplainable trends of this recession. So far, almost all the pain has ...
In this week's edition of the Radstock Journal Labour Councillor for Paulton, John Bull, claims that spending almost £1m on a 700yard bus lane is a good use of our money! John needs to be reminded that in 2005 the Conservatives were in charge of transport in B&NES - they have been for the last six years! It's a shame that he is such a keen supporter of the new Oddown bus lane, because I have been overwhelmed with emails and phone calls from residents who support my argument that spending almost £1m on a 700yard bus lane really is ...
I heard an interview with Bracknells councils very own council leader Paul Bettison on Radio 5 live on this very subject. During the interview he made a very good point that 50% of the rents from social housing are paid back to the government. (This figure is actually 35%). This is one reason why not for profit housing associations are set up as this money can be kept by the association for improvements etc. I do not know how the government plans to allocates these homes but I would like to see some of this funding allocated to Bracknell. Perhaps ...
It just goes to show you can't be too careful.
Harry's Place has been criticising the Wahabi's of Islam and has got into a bit of bother with them and they are causing him some problems and I shall point out some issues in this blog post that Harry and friends need to remember. First of all The Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat are the Sunni Muslims and the most Liberal group from them is the Brealvi group so when you are criticising Sunni's or any other groups and sects of Islam then please don't affiliate us with the groups that support terrorism. Islam is a religion of Peace and many ...
In view of my posting about Wimbledon and swine flu last night and a comment left on it today, I had better pass on Mr Parrott's latest tweet: Can you guys help me out and spread the word that I do not have swine flu, unlike what the Daily Mail claimed earlier. Thanks!That'll teach me to believe the Daily Mail. Incidentally, if you follow Travis Parrott on Twitter he will lead you to many top tennis tweeters.
{sven-pete-car-club} We're delighted to welcome two new 'Streetcar' cars to the ward. Car clubs, like Streetcar, allow people to hire cars for as little as half an hour whenever you need them. They reduce the need to own your own car (or for a second car!) New Streetcars have now been added on Fernbrook Road by Hither Green Station and on Holme Lacey Road opposite the Citroen garage. They join the existing Streetcar on Manor Park. The move to put more car club cars on the street follows a report published by the Sustainable Development Select Committee, which I vice-chair. ...
It seems that Labour have been caught on the hop by their own decision to call the by-election in Norwich North on 23rd July. As soon as last night, Tory poster boards started going up in gardens. I have seen four poster sites (a note to the Tories - Putting two posters up in each garden still look like one poster site, not two), and four Lib Dem poster boards up in gardens too. Labour, in contrast, have none up so far, not even in Mile Cross where they can usually rely on a good display of poster boards even ...
Wed 1st
19:09
Funny country we live in your a sex offender your let out, all types of dross back on the street bec...
Straw refuses parole for Ronnie Biggs Ronnie Biggs Ronnie Biggs was told today he will remain in prison after Justice Secretary Jack Straw refused to grant him parole. Mr Straw said the Great Train Robber was "wholly unrepentant" about his actions and had "outrageously courted the media" while on the run from prison. He said it was "unacceptable" that [...]
You the readers of this blog have decided that the name of this blog should not be changed to The Scrapbook with a massive majority of supporters of the proposed name. The results for the poll are: Change Name 21% Keep the Same 79% This is real democracy people if only HM's government made this more possible by having referendums more often. People could vote via the Internet and the decisions would be made via the results of referendums...
The man who destroyed the reputation of modern day politics by not speaking out when it was needed Mr Speaker Michael Martin is to get put into the Lords and may I ask why? The man has done nothing positive for politics except get elected as an MP which he probably wasn't good at. Then become the Speaker and show how bad he really is at handling situations. Michael Martin should get sacked and sent home as I don't believe people like him should sit in the Lords but again that's just me and everyone has their own opinion. I ...
He has been criticised for avoiding scrutiny, for not answering correspondence and a whole host of other matters but today the Deputy First Minister topped the lot by failing to show for a debate on the Welsh Assembly Government's Response to the Current International Economic Downturn. Ieuan Wyn Jones is of course the Minister for Economy and Transport so one would reasonably expect him to be present. Instead he was speaking at a conference on 'Small countries and the global crisis: challenges and opportunities?' The Assembly debate finished at 4pm, the time he was scheduled to speak and yet the ...
{The Bucklemaker shuts its doors} It's very sad to hear the Bucklemaker on St. Paul's Square has fallen into liquidation. The Bucklemaker was highly regarded and specialised in fish dishes. I now worry for some of the Jewellery Quarter's other top restaurants such as Lasan and Pasta di Piazza – although the latter was still bustling the last time I visited a few weeks ago. It's especially sad when you read the report by the Birmingham Post's food critic Richard McComb, who went to meet the man behind the Bucklemaker, Nick Crudgington. A major issue will be the settlement of ...
Apologies, dear reader, but I've been busy at work rather than watching Prime Minister's Questions (so that you don't have to). I will catch up with it later, but I have read the Hansard transcript. And if today's PMQs is remembered for anything, I suspect it will be for this quite sublime Prime Ministerial line: ... total spending will continue to rise, and it will be a zero per cent. rise in 2013-14. Yes, you read that right: 0% counts as a rise in total spending in Gordon Brown's eyes. The Evening Standard's Paul Waugh (admittedly not a Labour cheerleader) ...
Last Friday I wrote a lengthy piece about maternity services at Kingston Hospital. David Lindsell of the Comet has since been in touch and says: For anybody interested, we published the full letter online (minus the names of two consultants) and also a report of the meeting Mary referred to. David Lindsell Surrey Comet 0208 330 9547...
After waiting for nearly 25 years I finally got to see one of my favourite rock bands last night - the mighty Spinal Tap (Simply 'Tap' to their fans). Despite their early success (initially as The Thamesmen) they never hit the bigtime in the UK as much as they did in the US and Japan, and tours have been few and far between. Tap now join Rush, ZZ Top and The Police on the list of bands I thought I might not get to see live but finally have. Having made the brave (it's a fine line between clever and ...
According to their policies, the Welsh Assembly Government care about how their staff get to work. All office sites are required to be within ten minutes walk of a station, there are bike-to-work and season ticket schemes... But when push comes to shove, it turns out that they're quite happy to pay through the nose to provide parking. As the South Wales Echo reports, the Assembly spent £129,661 on parking permits for staff at Ty Hywel to use a nearby public multi-storey (at an average cost of £280 per permit). What's more, of the 63% of permit holders for which ...
For years, climate realists have been concerned that, despite all the grim scientific evidence, the public is still not fully engaged with the debate or the action that will be needed to address climate change. One problem may even be the term "climate change". Now a new report suggests that another term may shift the public's dial. The term is, wait for it: "global warming". Framing Science's Matt Nisbet cites a new study that shows how using the terms "climate change" versus "global warming" has a real bearing on public perceptions. Published in the Journal Public Understanding of Science, it ...
Older people will no longer be forced to sell their homes in order to pay for care under new proposals in a Green Paper due out next week. The Paper includes a range of measures such as options for compulsory insurance paid throughout a career or a one-off payment of £12,000 paid either on retirement [...]
Town halls were yesterday told at the LGA conference they could keep all the money from rents and sales of council houses. It is the biggest reform to social housing in a quarter of a century and was announced by Minister John Healey. He said: "I want councils to meet the housing needs of local [...]
There's an excellent and extensive article about the Alaskan wonder in Vanity Fair. In fact, it is so extensive that I am having to pencil off time in my diary to finish reading it. In other Palin news, she now says she would beat Obama. She said she would have more "endurance" than Obama. ?????????? But, tellingly, she used her favourite and tiresome word "Betcha" when she said it, so I think we can be safe in filing it under "Bovine Scatology". I suspect a new Tina Fey impersonation script is being written as we speak.... Gaw blimey....couldn't she just ...
A massive misjudgment from the Minister for Unemployment and Recession this afternoon. While we would never predict that at this stage his job is under serious threat, these things have a habit of gathering their own momentum. If Labour backbenchers start to want him gone, all it will take is one major economic failure by the Government and it could be curtains. Losing one Minister is bad, losing your own leader's ministerial position would almost certainly mean curtains for One Wales. No related posts.
Sometimes I just gets one of those tabloid moments ...
{campbell} Commenting on the news that the Government is to take the East Coast rail service, run by National Express, into public ownership, North East Fife MP Sir Menzies Campbell said: "The issue in not who runs East Coast main line services but the quality of that service and its reliability. Many of my constituents such as those who commute from North Fife to Edinburgh, St Andrews University students and those stationed at RAF Leuchars, rely on the line as their first choice for public transport. "It is essential for economic and social reasons that this vital public service be ...
After a boiling hot week spent rushing to and from work/Council Chamber via buses, tubes and trains this evening I will be chairing what should be a very interesting meeting of the Housing, Health and Community Care Panel. Tonight the Panel's discussion will be focussing mainly on housing issues in Reading. Regular readers of this blog will know that as Lib Dem housing spokesperson this is a subject I spend a lot of time on. Top of the agenda is an update report on how housing in Reading is being affected by the credit crunch. I first asked the question about a year ago. Some ...
News reraches your correspondent of an tale of international intrigue and dastardly murder, all in a doomed effort to save a man from redundancy. When Félix Martínez Touriño, Director of the International Convention Centre in Barcelona, was shot dead in a city street, police thought it was simply a case of mistaken identity. They did enquire into his private life, to see if there may be some motive there. The truth was rather more unexpected. It turned out that Senor Tourino was planning a restructuring at the Convention Centre, and that jobs were to be cut. A staff member, discovering ...
A peerage! It seems that the last speaker to be forced from office, boss-eyed Sir John Trevor in 1693, was one of those who did not get a peerage following his fall from grace, and nor should Martin. Lord Martin of Milnburn or wherever it will be should never happen. It is an affront. We all know there are people who should never have been placed in the Upper House, having failed at their elected job or even run away from re-election, but Martin has been thoroughly disgraced in the process too. Now, don't get me wrong, this is not ...
I made fewer blog posts in June than any month since January. Partly because I was away and unable to blog for a week or so (I did have a few posts I scheduled to pop up, just to keep things rolling along) and partly as a conscious "fewer but better" approach where I try to take a bit more time over some of my posts and not always chuck out any old rubbish (you may not have noticed, but my sudden splurge of LibDigs in the last week or two hopefully suggests I'm doing something right). Like most bloggers, ...
Hope he succeeds in the succeeding rounds. Even if he doesn't win the title he's a hero.
Matthew Taylor has a thought provoking article in The Times today. He argues that the home ownership ideal that so many Brits aspire to is actually unhealthy for the country and far better would be a balance of about 50% owners and 50% renters. I agree with Matthew that changing the culture to ensure that renting was a more viable option for people and they did not feel compelled to get on the housing ladder would be better. The problem however can be summed up in three words: "security of tenure". Or indeed lack of it. I blogged a few ...
I had to rub my eyes when I saw the headlines on PoliticsHome: Franken gives victory speech / Coleman concedes. But it has happened. Eight months after those dear Minnesotans voted, Al Franken has emerged the victor and the Democrats theoretically have a veto-proof 60 seat holding of the US Senate. In practice, this relies on two ailing Senators (Kennedy and Byrd) attending simultaneously, which is unlikely, and, even then, all 60 Senators agreeing on something, also a slim probability..... But for the moment let's just say that wonders never cease. A result in Minnesota! I thought we were in ...
I'm not really going to comment on the Lib Dem Voice piece by Richard Wilson about Liberal Youth being stuck in the proverbial headlights; with 600 new members since March, a new website being launched and a brand new executive team taking over next week, we need a youth party that looks to the future and prepares for the battles to come, like the Norwich North By-election this summer, and beyond to the upcoming General Election and the next parliament. The first step to building those future successes will be Liberal Youth's comeback training event, Activate, taking place from the ...
Several notables have been saying the "recession" is nearly over and I've been feeling they were living on a different planet, or perhaps in Cloud Cuckoo Land. I just haven't been able to see how things would not got a lot worse before they eventually ...
I read with interest today an article on the GetReading website about a planned re-vamp of the Kings Tavern on Kings Road. This follows the temporary closure of the pub following a license review in May. The article says: "The Kings Tavern in Kings Road, which closed on Monday last week after its licence was suspended, will get a new look with plush seating, a revamped bar and pool tables... During this time the pub will undergo a six-week makeover and will re-open its doors with a launch night on Friday, July 31.There will be live music from local bands ...
Our local paper carries the story of a man aquitted of flashing at a pair of teenage girls at the local leisure pool. The man was accused of following the 14 year olds into the showers after using the pool, before dropping his shorts to reveal his erect penis. Now if that had happened to me, or I [...]
I'm very impressed. I can email post@posterous.com and it automatically creates a blog for me. And my first blog posting. It then, after a quick set up, cross posts this to my Blogger blog. Posted via email from Rob's posterous
The Government have axed £2.5 million of funding for a new hostel facility for homeless people in Bath. The Homes & Community Agency had demanded an 'aspirational design' considered by the Council to be far beyond the requirements of a new hostel facility and beyond what could be afforded. The result of this slowed the process to the point where the Homes & Community Agency...
This is about the fact that bingo uniquely pays 22% tax rather than the normal 15% for other forms of gambling including online bingo.
The Heatwave that we are in the middle of at the moment causes problems fro some people. The Government have issued advice to help us all cope. to see the advice please follow this link HERE
Over the past few days, parts of England have seen temperatures climb to highs of around 31 degrees Celsius by day, but a key factor has been the night-time temperatures. Lows in some areas have not fallen below 18 degrees Celsius. To read how to cope in the heat follow this Link HERE
I have been meaning to post this photograph for some time. It was taken in Driftwood Way in Chiswell Green. The gentleman behind the hands was a member of the Three Valleys Water leak detection team - and he was using divining rods to do his business. I was absolutely fascinated and made him repeat the process over and over again, just to observe how he walked along and the rods then suddenly moved in his hands as though of their own volition, always over the same bit of roadway. My architect wife says water divining is not uncommon in ...
Quite astonishing! I simply cannot understand how UNITE has the nerve to defend Labour's staggering mismanagement of the public finances. Delaying the carriers by up to two years has cost the nation an additional £1billion but has not created one single extra job or any improvements to the carrier. I want Rosyth to have a long and strong future but that future will be threatened by reckless decisions like this. Instead of attacking me for standing up for the dockyard and the workforce, UNITE should be telling their friends in the Labour Party to stop frittering away taxpayers money. This ...
Thanks to all who commented on my last post. There was a clear consensus amongst you that wholemeal should be my next move, so I tried it overnight. I made my usual basic recipe, but replaced 25% of the white flour with wholemeal. That worked really well - the dough rose just as well and, if anything, more evenly than with white flour alone, although that may be down to the heat in London yesterday as much as to the ingredients. The wholemeal gave the bread a nuttier flavour and chewier texture, which I enjoyed. The consensus amongst the family ...
The Minnesota Supreme Court has finally ruled in the Senate race for Al Franken and Norm Coleman has conceded bringing November's election to a close.
It looks like Guido enjoyed himself at the panel meeting that he was a part of with the likes of Michael White and Nick Robinson. Guido writes about how Nick and Michael both throw mud at him and how they both criticised his blog. Guido's blog is a well read blog by many according to Guido's conversation the chief Whip of HM's government even reads the blog which is something to be proud of so I think Robinson and White need to remember these aspects before throwing mud. Guido's blog and this blog are wrote by Independents who don't have ...
At Prime Minister's Questions today Gordon Brown triumphantly told the Chamber there would be a 0% rise in spending. Is 0% a rise?! Desperate not to say cut, reduction, decline, diminution, decrease or anything that implies a lower level of spending than now, he was forced into modern form of Newspeak. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Gi7qqvRlY0 Yet, the more than this battle of the cuts with the Tories continues the longer the debate on the real decisions will be denied. That debate needs to be about what rather than if. Nick Clegg has offered up serious suggestions like ID cards, trident replacement and tax ...
Gordon Brown has just announced during Prime Minister's Questions that there will be a "Zero percent rise" in spending in 2013. So no increase is apparently a "rise". It's amazing how with Mr Brown words seem to mean whatever he wants them to. Like Humpty Dumpty. UPDATE: Now with added embeddage:
{save-our-pubs-campaign-launch1} Today marks the second anniversary of the ban on smoking in "public" places (actually a ban on smokign in private places, visited by the public). With dozens of pubs closing every week, an amendment to the blanket prohibition is crucial in assisting the licensed trade. With Labour largely united around the ban and the Tories saying they have "no plans" to change the law, this is surely an issue that the LibDems could latch on to. Angry and disllusioned publicans would also be a considerable electoral asset. The Save our Pubs and Clubs campaign - which seeks an amendment ...
This is a sad day when the Government have axed £2.5 million of funding for a new hostel facility for homeless people in Bath. The Homes & Community Agency had demanded an 'aspirational design' considered by the Council to be far beyond the requirements of a new hostel facility and beyond what could be afforded. The result of this slowed the process to the point where the Homes &...
This afternoon at PMQs, the Prime Minister announced that there would be a 'zero per cent rise' in spending in 2013-14. How strange to find that the son of the manse sees the glass as always being half full!
The agenda for the City Council meeting on Tuesday 7 July has now been published (pdf, 18KB).Items on the agenda include:the annual report of the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People & Families (pdf, 164KB);a Scrutiny report on Resources for improving parks (pdf, 394KB); anda Scrutiny review of Road Safety (pdf, 6,334 KB).(PS For anyone interested in attending, the Council does produce a
I have found this Video on You Tube please take a look by following the link HERE If you enjoy that one then look at this one Vince Cable Makes Sense again follow the link HERE Or better still remember this one from Stalin to Mr Bean follow this link HERE I am sure that you will enjoy it as much as I have.
The Western Mail again focuses on the Tories expense claims this morning with further details of their trips to Europe. If the Welsh Conservative Press Office is feeling a bit picked on today then they may have good reason. The paper says that in addition to the £6,500 'Brussels binge' reported yesterday a further three trips were taken racking up a total cost of £12,200. These included further trips to Brussels and one to Madrid, all involving stays in luxury hotels. No related posts.
About a hundred Lib Dems turned up to the group meeting and 150 to the annual dinner. Richard Kemp was elected unopposed for a further 2 years as the group leader. He has been very visible at this conference summing up on the Climate Change motion, responding to the debate on local government's response to the credit crunch and again in the evening (pictured above) speaking to the annual dinner. Richard loves to please an audience. He was full of praise for the role of District Councils which pleased many delegates, but he always manages to smuggle some content into ...
It was good to bump into Sir Ron Watson at the conference he is seen above pictured with Cllr Jack Colbert a Maghull Lib Dem Councillor. Ron is held in high regard by many Tories in the local government world and one or two have siddled up to me to ask about what is going on with Sefton Tories; what with Les Byrom desertion to Labour and the involvement of the wider party in the David Pearson botched deselection. Sir Ron is well known for his love of Jazz and the Goon show. I was told by one delegate that ...
Well as I suspected would be the case, my stats for this month aren't as good as last months! However they aren't too shabby and show huge progress on the months before May (I am viewing May as a bit of a blip given the media coverage I got). My most visited post this month was "Commentariat vs Bloggertariat" event review - #eiblogger which got a little over 2,000 pageviews. Iain Dale and Guido both linked to it as well as a number of other blogs which pushed the traffic high on it. So, anyway for June I got 13,585 ...
Fraser Nelson has with great pleasure accused Ed Balls of lying, and is now clearly delighted that Balls was so foolish as to call him up, angry, and demand a retraction. This is what FN reports EB as 'lying' about: LIE no1: "We have acted in the downturn, that will mean that the economy is stronger, we'll have less unemployment, less debt..." Less debt? No, this was not a mistake. He repeats it here. LIE no2: "Alistair Darling in the budget set out plans which show the deficit coming down, national debt coming down." For number 1, Nelson is clearly ...
Just noticed that, on this computer at least, anything in italics on this blog is rendering as whitespace in Firefox. Not sure if this is a FF problem, a WordPress problem or something else. Will investigate tonight. In the meantime, apologies if this is affecting anyone else...
I never win things - I'm one of the vast bulk of people who make up the non-winning section of the population, yet still enter prize draws and the like because of that perennial triumph of hope over expectation. So, I was rather surprised to receive an email this morning letting me know that I have been selected for something. Well, I get those all the time, but this time it wasn't from the Kazakhstan National Lottery telling me that I may have already won TEN MILLION ENGLISH POUNDS. This was from One and Other, informing me that I've been ...
... We'd say a big thank you to the 37,801 'absolute unique visitors'* who read Liberal Democrat Voice in June, our third highest total ever. That's a slight dip compared with last month's 41k+ figure, but is a whopping 125% increase on a year ago. This brings our absolute unique visitor readership for the last year to date (1 July 2008 - 30 June 2009) to 286,739, an increase of 110% on the equivalent figure for 2007-08 of 136,301. The 5 top-read stories during the month were: 1. By-election results: Tories fail against Lib Dems (17th November 2006) 2. Tory ...
Thanks to (Probably not) the Daily Mail for bringing my attention to a truly hilarious article in an organ thrusting nobly where journalists have too often feared to enter. On occasion I find some mild entertainment is to be had disecting poor journalism and pointing out its all-too-frequent failings. I can honestly say that in this case, it's simply not needed. The article, complete with numerous pictures of attractive young ladies showing lots of flesh, exposes the horror of parents up and down the land at the thought that their daughters, led astray by lipstick lesbian celebs, might be conned ...
Wed 1st
10:39
Balls-up: Schools white paper starkly highlights inefficiency and futility of public provision
So, we've got another cunning plan from the Balls-up that is our government led education system. This being the government that, twelve years ago, came to power on the mantra "Education, education, education". The sad fact is that for all their central interference 40% of kids born at the beginning of this era of "Education, education, education" cannot read satisfactorily, despite the literacy hour, the special measures and all the money (for I don't begrudge them the fact that they have spent money, just that they seem incapable of spending it wisely) spent on academies and such like. It seems ...
{pete-website} I'm really pleased to say that Cllr Pete Pattisson has been selected as the Lib Dem candidate for Lewisham East. Pete will fight the seat at the next general election - which must be held at some point over the next year. Labour MP Bridget Prentice has already said she's standing down at the election. Pete's a local councillor in Whitefoot ward, a former local teacher, and well-known campaigner. You can find out more about Pete and get in touch with him over at his (excellent) website. Pete writes: Our community and country are in urgent need of change. ...
The new leader of the Liberal Democrat (ALDE) Group in the European Parliament is a man formerly opposed by the UK Government for being too pro-European. Guy Verhofstadt was prime minister of Belgium for 9 years and has 'European Federalist' stamped through him like the words on Blackpool rock. When his name came up 5 years ago as a potential president of the European Commission the UK Government immediately shot it down. Now he has been chosen by acclamation to lead the 84 Lib Dem MEPs and his words on day one confirmed all that we expected. "Europe is the ...
I have sent in my personal letter of objection to the Helioslough proposals for the Radlett freight terminal. I hope I am among many, many local residents and organisations to have voiced our dismay. There are so many different grounds why this proposal is wholly unsuitable for the site - "coalescence" of currently separate communities destroying any remaining sense of a rural setting for the south of our city and district massively increased lorry traffic on a highway infrastructure which is already close to breaking point much of the workforce operating the site having to be imported daily from miles ...
The writ for the Norwich North by-election has been moved - and the by-election will be held on Thursday 23 July. Interestingly, the writ for the Glasgow North East by-election has not been moved and if it is not moved today, that by-election will not take place on the 23 July. Given that it is unlikely that the by-election can be held later in the summer break, it looks increasingly likely that the Glasgow by-election will now take place in September. This seems a bizarre strategy on Labour's part. You would have thought that they'd want to get the bad ...
Not many countries can declare an election in 8 months flat – but hey, be grateful for small mercies!
Fabulous news about National Express losing the contract for the East Coast Main Line. I don't have a personal beef with National Express - they are as bad as the rest - but as happened when Network South East was briefly brought into public ownership some years ago the managers of this line have a chance to demonstrate that public ownership of our railways quite simply makes sense. You cannot have competition where one company runs one service on one line. That's a monopoly. Where trains do compete on lines the tickets are often not transferable, people using the service ...
Wed 1st
09:43
National Express - an example to demonstrate that the private sector doesn't always want a free mark...
Whilst National Express frantically try to renegotiate their franchise for the East Coast Main Line, and CEO Richard Bowker resigns to take a plum job overseas - can you abandon a sinking train? - I am reminded that introducing the private sector to public services is not the universal panacea that some of my colleagues suggest it to be. Yes, that means you, Tristan, and you, Liberal Vision. Oh yes, and you, Cllr Papworth... The Train Operating Companies signed up in a bidding contest to run train services for a fixed term - all entirely fair so far. Their business ...
I went round Harrowby Road to inspect it yesterday evening and am pleased to see that the work to repair the potholes has finally been done. Thanks to the Highways team for getting this sorted.
President Barack Obama's party has secured crucial control of 60 seats in the US Senate, after the last undecided seat was awarded to a Democrat. To read the full story follow the link HERE
The Home Secretary has hit all the headlines today with his assertion that ID cards will not be compulsory and that plans to introduce compulsory identity cards for airline pilots and 30,000 other "critical workers" at Manchester and London City airports this autumn have been abandoned. However, good news as this is, we should not celebrate too soon nor should we assume that the project is dead and buried. The Government is to press ahead with the National Identity Card Database and British citizens who apply for or renew their passport will be automatically registered on it. This means that ...
Inspired by the downfall of the Nationalised banks, that old favourite of the lefties is back: Nationalising the trains! The strategy is the same: Wait until a train operator is on the brink of bankruptcy then swoop in. To help the process along (after all, train operators might not go bankrupt on their own) the Government's got a few tricks up it's sleeve. Their key weapon is fuel duties, combined with Quango controlled pricing and scheduling. If the train operators can't control their costs or prices, then to bankrupt a train operator all you need to do is make sure ...
ID Cards have been dropped by the government as a compulsory document that they were gonna make us carry around (it was also a piece of the jigsaw leading to the Police State) by the new Home Secretary Alan Johnson. First of all I would like to congratulate No2ID and other organisations that lead the campaign against ID Cards and I believe the government has done the right thing dropping the project. Labour did say that they were gonna listen just after the June 2009 Polls and I think that is exactly what is going to happened. Labour are now ...
The announcement yesterday that they've cancelled any plans to make ID cards compulsory was welcome for one reason: It means the tide of public opinion is against them. That's a good thing. The Government's on the defensive. Hurray! But the bad news is that they're going to proceed with ID cards anyway, with the ability to 'designate' certain things as requiring registration on the National Identity Database. If you want a passport, for example, you're going to get an ID card. The important thing is to get the infrastructure in place. They're already claiming that they've spent so much money ...
2 Big Stories British economy in worst state in over half a century Perhaps it's the sweltering weather, perhaps recession fatigue has set in, but there is little reaction to yesterday's startling news that the British economy contracted by 2.4% in the first quarter of 2009 - the worst decline in more than 50 years. It isn't the main story for even one of the newspapers, though it led all last night's TV news programmes. Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable underscored the seriousness of the data: The biggest three month fall in GDP in more than half a century ...
So despite unprecedented spending, borrowing and the printing of money the economy has shrunk by a monumental 2.4% in just the first quarter of this year. 51 years ago, that's when we last saw that sort of thing. I tried to do a bit of digging around to see what happened in the 50s that caused that contraction. Turns out most of the information from this period is contained in something called, "books" which means getting off my arse and going to the public library and/or ordering a book from Amazon. I am a victim of 'analogue exclusion' aren't I? ...
Within yesterday's announcement that, despite ID cards becoming voluntary, the National Indentity Database will carry on, was a rather odd comment from the Home Secretary. According to The Guardian: "[Alan Johnson] also denied that there were any significant public spending savings to be made by cancelling the project saying: "This scheme pays for itself. If you cancel all you will get is diddly squat."This is a reference to the self-financing nature of the project under which it is to be paid for through increased charges for passports and the £60 cost of a biometric identity card."No, Alan, that isn't self-financing. ...
There has been various talk in the blogosphere and in newspaper comments recently about how Gordon Brown is not being honest when it comes to Labour's spending plans after the next election. There is a debate going on as to whether it would make sense for David Cameron or other opponents of his to call him a liar directly. I have even read a suggestion that Cameron should do it at PMQs and then refuse to take it back thus breaking parliamentary procedure to underline how serious the situation is. I am sure Cameron won't do this and I would ...
Plaid Cymru AM Bethan Jenkins is staging a short debate later today on 'The Twitter Revolution - a time for democratic renewal?' As part of her 15 minute speech she is presenting a five minute video collage of people who use Twitter and social networking sites and why. This is my contribution to that video.
Remember there is another Liberal England book quiz taking place. Just e-mail me the answers to the five questions below and you could win one of the two copies that are up for prizes. First, you may be interested in a review of the book just published on A Pint of Unionist Lite: "A Useful Fiction" is an attempt to analyse post-devolution Britain, the structures set in place at the end of the 90s and how they have affected the social, economic, cultural and political make-up of the United Kingdom. He sets himself a range of questions, for example- the ...
There was a fair amount of mockery of the Government a couple of months ago when it was revealed that Labour's flagship Mortgage Rescue Scheme, launched last autumn, had helped only one family up to the end of April.^ I said then that these things take time, Rome wasn't built in a day etc. How prophetic, for today we discover that the figure of families helped by the Mortgage Rescue Scheme has rocketed ... to six. Or 6 if you prefer. To be fair, that's a 600% increase. On the debit side, the original intention was to help 6,000 families ...
The hot dog days of Summer bring an even greater ennui to the fetid business of politics. Flaming June gives way to a muggy July and few in the political world are doing more than look forward to the escape from Westminster. John Redwood argues that this exodus amounts to Parliament being part time. In his occasionally populist way, he argues that the sessions of Parliament should be longer. Most MPs, especially those in marginal seats might argue that they have plenty to do in their constituencies, and most constituencies are a long way from London, unlike leafy Wokingham. But ...
Don't blame it on the sunshineDon't blame it on the moonlightDon't blame it on the good timesBlame it on the boogie
We all know that the Tories are for the well-off, viz Tory MPs' moats, duck houses, caviar-stuffed foie gras (okay, I made that last one up), but one thing we all knew (sic) was that Labour was for cutting the gap between the rich and the poor. In fact the last time that happened was under the Wilson/Callaghan government of the 1970s. However, thanks to a fellow councillor and statistics supplied by the Left Economics Advisory Panel: * 13.2m people live in poverty, including 2.1m pensioners and 3.9m children. * Over 20% are officially income poor, in 1979 it was ...
An article in yesterday's Liverpool Daily Post highlights the difficulty political parties have of vetting potential Parliamentary and local candidates. The case of Matthew Byrne who has been charged with sexual assault and child pornography charges is symptomatic of the problem(s) faced by all political parties. How do politcal parties establish the suitability of candidates [...]
I was otherwise occupied last night. If I hadn't been, I'd have joined in with the chorus of disapproval regarding Nuffield Health and Prof Michael McMahon's pop at fat 'role models' (see also the Metro's coverage). What to add that Costigan and Carol haven't already said (or for that matter, Susie Orbach and Phill Jupitus)? [...]
OK, my new phone is on its way. I am checking the tracking obsessively. It's in Northampton! And it needs a name... It is a Nokia 5800. Perhaps something Viking-y, given the nationality of the manufacturer? The little wrist strap and plectrum combo doesn't half look like a devil's tail, too. Something demonic? Do we know of any Finnish demons? For reference, other named appliances in this household include my laptop (McGruder) desktop (Frankenputer) and Car (Kaligula). Suggestions in the comments, please! ETA: OOOOOOO it's in Tamworth!
Well is the start of something big? will we see candidates in the elections. Watch this space. Updates coming soon.
Got it GO.Only i heard someone from childrens services humming it today. What do you think readers? Stay Or Go
Thought struck me today where do the BNP go for holidays. Must be Blackpool can't see them going abroad with all those bloody foreigners can you?
My Lib Dem colleagues in Redlands and I work hard to communicate with those we are elected to serve (the people of Redlands - all 6,000+ of them!) and we do this in a variety of traditional and non-traditional ways including using blogs, press articles, street-letters, telephone, email, Facebook and more recently Twitter. We also do plenty of what you might call 'traditional campaigning' in an effort to find out local views towards different issues notably holding ward surgeries, conducting residents' surveys, putting out regular 'Focus' leaflets, collecting petition signatures and knocking on doors. We are always exploring ways we can get our message across more effectively and also, ways to get direct ...
Queen and Ben Elton's well known musical We Will Rock You will run from today to Saturday 5th September 2009, at Birmingham Hippodrome.
