I didn't mean to be away from 'blogsphere' for so long, but it has been a very busy few weeks! Election time is always full of manic activity, but I'm pleased to say I was re-elected as Councillor for Eastville, the result was: Steve Comer (Liberal Democrat Focus Team) 1310 44% Mike Wollacott (Labour) 717 24% Derek Fey (Conservative) 542 18% Glenn Vowles (Green Party) 426 14% June 4th saw the Liberal Democrats win 36 out of the 70 seats in Bristol and take overall control of the city for the first time. I'm very pleased that one of the ...
In a bizarre move, Sarah Palin has announced that she is stepping down as the Republican Governor of Alaska later this month. Here is CNN's coverage of it: Some have interpreted this as a precursor to her running for the Presidency in 2012 but usually candidates remain in whatever office they hold. It gives them a natural springboard. Others such as Sunny on Pickled Politics think that there is something in her closet and she is getting out before it breaks. And still others such as Stephen Green writing on Pajamas Media thinks that standing down like this makes her ...
So Sarah Palin is resigning as Governor of Alaska. Why? This announcement seems to have really caught the media on the hop - let's hope that she didn't shoot them in the foot too! So why has she done it? The interview that she gave announcing her departure proved that she was not intending to leave [...]
On Tuesday I finally received a promised review copy of Patrick Hannan's book A Useful Fiction: Adventures in British Democracy I was hoping it would live up to the adventure element of the sub-title. Well it certainly has in what I have read so far. Take the opening three paragraphs: 'If you want to find out what Britishness is there are some obvious places to for an answer. Top of the list is the British, perhaps, is the British Council, the United Kingdom's leading cultural messenger abroad. If they don't know, who does? And who better to consult there than ...
Monday, fielded a question on the pilot 'birtual cpourts', where the defendant appears over a video link from a police station at a distance to the magistrate's court in London. The Minister confirmed that the defence solicitor would be also be at the police station. The system no doubt saves money on transport and escort costs, and in 75% of the cases dealt with so far, the defendant was pleading guilty. Tuesday, a supplementary question on the strengthening of legislation on the trial of war criminals living in the UK. The Minister couldn't say whether i would apply to those ...
Finishing work at 17:45 on a Friday is not fun, especially when you are normally out the door for the start of the weekend at four. Adding to that that the only part of the Andy Murray match I saw live was the last game and tie break of the third set and then the final few games of the match itself. But the reason for that and the reason that my blogging hasn't been up to it's normal speed is that I've been a little bit busier at work than normal. One of colleagues is currently enjoying the coolness ...
Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com in Housing Wednesday 1st July 2009 – 1:50pm John Healey named as new Housing Minister Housing Minister John Healey has pledged to publish a consultation document 'before the summer recess' on the reform of council housing finance. In a written statement to the House of Commons, Mr Healey told MPs that he [...]
I was beginning to get the idea that 100 days of solid reporting of niceness might begin to pall, so I'll switch to the occasional catchup... Last weekend was an interesting one, starting with a dash to Liverpool Street for the daily train to Needham Market, where I was met and driven to Nedging Hall for a reception hosted by the High Sheriff of Suffolk. The haute monde of the county set were all there, plus the mayors of the various towns in their regalia. All very pleasant, with some rather fine deep-fried oysters washed down with some equally good ...
I've only missed a few episodes of the BBC drama Robin Hood when it has aired. One of those was last Saturdays, when I like over 12m other viewers was watching Andy Murray at Wimbledon. Now I've learned before getting around to iPlayer-ing the episode I find out that not only have the BBC killed off Robin, but have axed the series as well. A BBC spokesman said: 'Viewers have enjoyed three fantastic series of Robin Hood but with the death of Robin in last week's finale, we feel that the show has reached its natural conclusion.' Balderdash! Any executive ...
My friend Herbert Eppel sends me this photograph of a fox drinking from the birdbath in his garden. He also asks if I can mention the Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Pro Wind Alliance. Not sure about that, Herb.
Hurrah! Someone out there is paying attention to my book reviews and bought four Strossisms. And what's more, they followed my links to that nice Mr. Amazon's website to do so, thus earning me a commission. Now, what's stopping the rest of you?
Tory Outcast has done a quick round-up of abuses of the English language for the week but this one at the end of his post here takes the biscuit. It is from Sir Ken Jones of ACPO: The promise of reform which the Green Paper heralds holds much for the public and Service alike; local policing, customised to local need with authentic answerability, strengthened accountabilities at force level through reforms to police authorities and HMIC, performance management at the service of localities with targets and plans tailored to local needs, the end of centrally-engineered one size fits all initiatives, an ...
My House Points column from today's Liberal Democrat News. Highway jinks The malaise that grips this government has reached its bony fingers into every corner of Westminster life. Last Thursday's transport questions provided a good example. For a start it was Hamlet without the prince. Or, to be more accurate, the Greek myths without Adonis. The transport secretary is Lord Adonis and he cannot be questioned in the Commons, so MPs were forced to deal with his minions. Increasingly, the senior ministers in this government are unelected and - worse - are not accountable to anyone who has been elected ...
44) Beverly Lewis, The Sacrifice (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 2004, ISBN 0764228757). Third in an Amish family saga, and a bit of nostalgic escapism for me, albeit born of a longstanding interest in Amish and Mennonite beliefs and practices. They first came to my attention because the town where I grew up in Germany was not far from a site where many Anabaptists were martyred. Later, I learned that some dear family friends had Mennonite relatives. When I was seventeen, they helped me get in touch with a Mennonite family in Virginia, and I stayed with them one summer, going to ...
Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood have just finished a short US tour. Jeff Gold went to the final concert, held at the Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday, and has some superior videos on his blog.
Having stuck his head above the parapet and offered himself for election as our local MP, you might have thought my colleague Pete Pattisson had taken on enough new challenges lately. But no - Pete's now signed up to do the London 10k run on behalf of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, along with his wife Jo. The Suzy Lamplugh trust works to raise awareness of the importance of personal safety and to help people avoid violence and agression. I know they do a lot of work with vulnerable lone workers (like housing officers) so it's a great cause. If you'd ...
I have experience in campaigning and working with and for politicians and I am now offering my knowledge and skills to any one who is interested in hiring a campaign consultant to work for them by consulting them over a long/short period of time. If you want a campaign consultant to give you a brief talk on how to succesfully campaign, or you want someone to work with you over a long period of time giving you ideas and advice then I am the person for you. I have experiene in my work on local election, European election, Internal organisation ...
I have today been knocked back on my offer to the Tories for an internship in their office. I know many will be thinking why did I ask but its simple, I need experience I can give campaign knowledge to a campaign team and hey I am a lot more then just a Lib Dem you know. I am a political commentator, blogger and a campaign consultant who will consult campaigners from any political party/organisation on campaigns. Maybe a campaign consultancy role is exactly what I need to embark upon?
Welcome to this Friday edition of our new LDV feature rounding up some of the best/worst/most curious political videos. This week, in the absence of any contemporary videos grabbing my attention, I thought we'd take a trip down memory lane, and revisit party election broadcasts of the 1980s from each of the three main parties. Labour party election broadcast 1987 The '87 Labour campaign has gone down in the history books as presentationally slick. You might doubt that from the first two minutes of this 10-minute film (yes, TEN MINUTES: what sort of attention span do these people think we ...
I am amazed at the SNP City Council administration's unwillingness to share with the people of Dundee the detailed proposals to upgrade Dundee rail station. "The Courier" tried to obtain the detailed plans through Freedom of Information legislation but has been refused access - the newspaper is rightly appealing against this ruling. As I indicated to the Courier, I personally don't see what the problem is with the Council releasing the full details - the public has the right to see what is planned for the station. The question must be why the Council seems to be stalling in bringing ...
Today's Birmingham Post carries a profile and interview with Post Power 50 member Carol Coombes. Now a business consultant, Carol has a track record of successful social enterprise, including the Babywood creche and Ladywood Furniture Project. "People around us were getting a flat or house and then were unable to furnish it," she said. "This often caused a spiral which ended in their not being able to keep the tenancy or get another. The furniture project was simple. We sought donations of unwanted, good quality, furniture and then passed the pieces on to people who needed them."
West Wing devotees will be familiar with the concept of 'take out the trash day' – it even has its own Wiki entry: The title refers to the Friday press briefing wherein the White House releases information about several sensitive stories, thereby preventing discussion and reducing any probable impact in the media. Donna: What's take out the trash day? Josh: Friday. Donna: I mean, what is it? Josh: Any stories we have to give the press that we're not wild about, we give all in a lump on Friday. Donna: Why do you do it in a lump? Josh: Instead ...
Fri 3rd
18:04
Pensioner lay dead in flat for five years, how sad what has happened to neighbourhood spirit?
Pensioner lay dead in flat for five years Published by Hannah Wooderson for 24dash.com in Communities , Local Government Friday 3rd July 2009 – 3:08pm Pensioner lay dead in flat for five years The body of an elderly woman lay undiscovered in her flat for up to five years, it was revealed today. The badly decomposed body [...]
At breakfast -desperate to sit by an open window, I found myself at a table with two Labour councillors. 'What time is he on?' one asked. 'not till 10.30' said the other. They were talking not of David Cameron nor of the Labour cabinet member both speaking today but of Vince Cable. At ten o'clock I made my way to the tearoom and struck up a conversation in the queue with an officer from the South of England. He had formerly worked in the NW and he was interested how we were getting on in the recession. He was explaining ...
Fri 3rd
17:37Just a quick thank you to Cllr Merry for taking the time out to arrange a summit in relation to the ...
We had spolen to Cllr Merry early this year over a possible meeting to discuss the problems at the centre. To his credit he arranged a summit, I came away with a view the meeting was positive, open, and a wide range of ideas have been discussed. Today i felt this is what i became a [...]
The typical Daily Mail reader, were they to believe all they read, would huddle at home in constant fear that a gang of obese, drunk, illiterate, drugged up and tooled up eight year olds would drag themselves away from killing prostitutes in Grand Theft Auto just long enough to smash the door down and stab them to death, before defecating on the dog. So no surprise that the Daily Mail is concerned that our youngsters are being taught how to be gay. This is, let me stress, absolutely not that Mail journos are a bunch of homophobes stuck in the ...
Fri 3rd
17:21
So where was Chloe Smith born ? Are the Tories going to make the Romsey mistake again ?
Like Craig Murray, I don't really care where Chloe Smith, the Tory candidate for Norwich North was born, or at least I didn't care until the Tories started getting coy over exactly where she was born. Craig Murray points out that the Tories seem totally unwilling to reveal where she was born despite claims in Tory leaflets that she is "Norfolk through and through". If that is the case, we have no problem with the Tory claims, but if it turns out not to be true, much as it was when they claimed the Tory candidate in the Romsey by-election ...
I ask this question because this is a topic that I really enjoy writing and reading about. Will bloggers become part of the Main Stream Media and will they ever start getting treated the same? I think they will, I believe that a day shall come when bloggers will be seen as people who can make or break politicians and its at that time when people will decide to treat bloggers like ordinary journalists. I wouldn't class myself as a reporter or journalist because I am a political commentator and blogger and reporting isn't what I do. I enjoy blogging ...
I have been offered onto a journalism course by someone I know who thinks Journalism is the future for me. Clearly I was and still am thinking about going into ICT and becoming a network technician but I don't know could journalism become a path that I could take? If it does then clearly I will need to get into the MSM but it will have to be an organisation that is very active online so I can work in the online sector as clearly I am a new media journalist then a old (dead tree press) journalists.
An offer has been accepted for The Longacre Tavern on London Road after its owner, the Wadworths brewery, decided the pub no longer fitted with its portfolio of properties. It had been run by landlord Mervyn Thomas for more than 30 years until his recent retirement. Wadworths conducted a review of the premises and decided a sale was the best commercial option. Pub, hotel and restaurant specialist Fleurets is marketing the pub and a spokesman for the agent confirmed the buyer was a small business but had not yet stated if the intention was to keep the premises as a ...
Congratulations to former vice chair of the Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats, Gerry Jerome on a fantastic by election result in Sutton. This is a blow to the Conservatives who failed to hold the seat, and the Labour vote seems to have been wiped out altogether, after being overtaken by the BNP! Nonsuch By Election Result: Gerry Jerome, Liberal Democrats: 1,665 votes (50.6% share) Georg Braun, Conservative Party: 1,329 votes (40.4% share) Peter North, British National Party: 211 votes (6.4% share) Marcus Papadopoulos, Labour Party: 88 votes (2.7% share) Majority 336 3298 ballots issued (41% turnout) 5.25% swing from the Conservatives ...
We boast about all the great cities that we run at a council level but when do we visit them with our annual conference? This is especially relevant to northern cities where we are supposed to be targeting the flaking Labour vote. Granted, Spring Conference was in Harrogate this year but we seem to have [...]
Those lovely people at Wikio have emailed The Voice with their list^ of the top blogs in the UK in June 2009. (Lib Dem blogger Jennie Rigg has already published the list of top 30 politics blogs: below is the full list for all blogs, though there's considerable overlap between the two owing to the dominance of politics blogs in Wikio's weightings.) 1 Iain Dale's Diary 2 Guy Fawkes' blog 3 Liberal Conspiracy 4 Labourlist 5 Blah! Blah! Technology 6 politicalbetting.com 7 Liberal Democrat Voice 8 Dizzy Thinks 9 Harry's Place 10 Old Holborn 11 Tom Harris MP 12 imran.ali ...
If it hadn't been for Yousuf, I would most likely never have known about the case of Neil MacGregor, who has today been referred for psychiatric assessment after admitting threatening to blow up Glasgow Central Mosque and kill a Muslim a day. Yousuf was concerned at the lack of attention this had received in the media compared to what would have happened if a Muslim had threatened to blow up a Church and launched a spirited campaign to get the media to cover the story. It well may be that the Sheriff's decision, and the muted way in which the ...
And now an email to stakeholders Sent on behalf of Susan Goldsmith, Managing Director, National Express East Coast Dear Stakeholder, EAST COAST RAIL FRANCHISE Following this week's announcements about the East Coast rail franchise, I am writing to assure you that National Express remains committed to ensuring that high standards of service are maintained and that any transfer to public ownership is conducted in an orderly and professional manner. Contrary to some media reports, the Department for Transport has not nationalised the East Coast railway, nor has National Express been stripped of its franchise. However, we have indicated to the ...
Sometimes you want to blog, you know you'd like to keep your audience supplied with posts, you know that you've not suddenly become an ignorant, boring person with nothing to say - but you just can't think of an interesting topic. So what to do? My solution: look through your posts from a year ago for inspiration to break your writer's block. (Or look through your oldest posts if you've not been going for a year.) They are all on topics that you know you are able to write about. Chances are that you'll see something new you can say ...
I've just done my annual update of my blogroll and added: Mark Reckons, Jennie Rigg, Himmelgarten Cafe, Irfan Ahmed, Caron's Musings, Swinton South Liberal Democrats, Redlands Liberal Democrats, Reading List. If you want to be added please let me know, plus I apologise if you have added me to your blogroll and I haven't noticed and returned the compliment - in which case please also let me know accompanied by whatever expletives you deem appropriate.
When you set your spreadsheet to no figures after the decimal point and call a zero change a "rise". It's quite a feat of bare-faced incorrect statistical manipulation. Gordon Brown should hang his head in shame. Going from £701bn real terms spending in 2012-13 to £700bn in 2013-14 is a 0.14% decrease. It's not zero anything, least of a "rise". This man should be exposed! Mind you, when you look at the four year period from 2010 to 2014, government spending, when adjusted for forecasted inflation, will in £ billions be 702,699,701,700. So, it's basically staying flat at top level, ...
Not to disparage the huge efforts required to fend off the challenges of other parties there have been three interesting indicators in seats that will prove difficult defences. 1. West Didsbury – although this was a `safe` Lib Dem seat it was interesting to note that after pouring the same amount of literature and after pouring [...]
Sutton LBC, Nonsuch LD Gerry Jerome 1665 (50.6; +4.0)Con 1329 (40.4; -7.2)BNP 211 (6.4; +6.4)Lab 88 (2.7; -3.3)Majority 336Turnout 41%LD gain from ConPercentage change is since May 2006
2 Big Stories Is homphobia still rife on the Tory benches? That's the allegation from Labour cabinet minister Ben Bradshaw: Ben Bradshaw has said "a deep strain of homophobia still exists on the Conservative benches". Mr Bradshaw, one of three gay men currently in the cabinet, made the comments as a new poll suggested more gay people were turning to the Tories. Chris Bryant, another gay minister, said: "If gays vote Tory they will rue the day very soon." For what it's worth I suspect that equality for gay people is the one area where the Tories have genuinely changed ...
Everyone knows that I stand by my opinion which is that the people of Iraq were better under Saddam then they are under the new Shia regime but putting that aside news has come out that suggests that Saddam didn't have WMD and used it as a tactic to scare Iran who Saddam feared. The Shia sect now control both Iraq and Iran and wouldn't have had control of Iraq if Saddam was still leader but No Mr Bush and Blair had to go and invade a country just to over throw a man who had a lot of oil ...
After all those letters, threatening voice texts and phone calls Westminster have decided to drop my parking penalty. In the end I didn't even have to go to a hearing – I just received a letter saying they weren't proceeding. Good for me, but why did they proceed against a disabled couple in their 70s [...]
Fri 3rd
12:30
CommentIsLinked@LDV: Paddy Ashdown - The age when the powerful can act unilaterally is over
Over at The Independent, there is an extract from former Lib Dem leader Lord (Paddy) Ashdown's speech to the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House examining the situation in Afghanistan. Here's an excerpt: ... the chief reason for the fact that we are losing lives is not in the ineffectiveness of the Afghan government, who we love to blame, but in our own complete failure to have any coordinated international plan; in our inability to work together between the nations of the coalition; in our determination to see Afghanistan solely through the prism of the place in which ...
A former work colleague has just invited me to lunch next week. He's suggested a pub near his office as it does a 'descent sandwich'. I assume that's one that goes down well?
The Ofsted Report on Haringey Council's progress on child protection since the fall out after Baby P andsince the installation of a new Director of Children's Services was published this morning. It makes miserable reading as the key findings are that the situation in Haringey Child Protection was even worse than we thought with a 400 case backlog. Either Haringey didn't know how bad they were or they were hiding how bad they were - either way a terrifying prospect. The report states: 'Significant shortcomings remian which means that children and young people in Haringey are not yet consistently safeguarded.' ...
I am a huge fan of the BBC. I was literally born and raised on it as one of my main sources of entertainment and information. As I have grown older, its excellent news coverage, documentaries, analysis and the plethora of insightful programmes on the national treasure that is Radio 4 have helped make me the politically engaged person I am today. I absolutely feel that this country is a better place for having a publicly funded broadcasting organisation like this. I think if we ever lost it, even many of its critics would find that they didn't know what ...
One of my sources on the streets has sent me the newspaper cut out above. First of all I don't know which newspaper its from but shall find out and tell blog readers. I have a mention in the cut out it says "But Party Colleagues have condemned his comments (Chris Davies), including Cornwall MP Julia Goldsworthy and Lib Dem blogger Irfan Ahmed" The article is about John Pugh MP and his support of Chris' comments and personally I don't want to go through the whole rant again so I shall keep in short. We are meant to be Liberals ...
I had a long conversation with one of the lead officers at the council who's coordinating the council's response to Swine Flu. There have now been six cases of in Seedley Primary School and up to sixty cases across Greater Manchester (see here for more details). I wanted to make sure that the council is [...]
Here is the statement by Nottinghamshire Police, I am still very angry that this was allowed to happen. I have written today to the Nottinghamshire Police Chief Constable, Julia Hodson expressing my anger, concerns about lack of training and that they officer concerned should be prosecuted. The address is Julia Hodson, Chief Constable, Nottinghamshire Police, Sherwood Lodge, Arnold, Nottingham, NG5 8PP and urge you all to do the same.
Interesting coverage in The Times today of the forthcoming Norwich North by-election. The paper argues that a "wounded and angry city" could turn away from Labour and make the "no hoper" Chloe Smith a credible candidate. From even my basic understanding of the electoral numbers this seems an incredible interpretation. The seat is Conservative target number 168 at the next General Election. The Conservatives would have to win seats like these to get an overall majority and current polling figures should give them the swing required to win here even in a General Election. This is a by-election, so naturally ...
It's often said that these days that people don't stop to help strangers in difficulty. I am not sure that is universally true and we had a heartening example this week. My nearest and dearest, bless her, got herself into a bit of pickle with her bicycle, our dog Charlie, his lead, a two posted sign and the dog going one way and her going the other (she never does anything hum-drum). Suffice it to say, the episode ended with her nibs lying prostrate on the A339 and at the mercy of, thankfully benign, oncoming traffic. Anyway, two motorists stopped ...
The Murray v Wawrinka match was remarkable in several ways. Obviously, it was an outstanding tennis match and it was heartening to see Murray prove himself up against such a physically strong player. Also, as my contemporary John McEnroe said, it is astonishing to think that Wimbledon now has a roof (on the centre court) and a video/computer line call checker. Both came beautifully into play in the Murray/Wawrinka match, which would have involved an overnight pause if it hadn't been for the roof. But the biggest feat of the match was to demonstrate the awesome national treasure that is ...
Last night I was reminded of one of the many reasons why the Labour Party is not for me. Its mindset would drive me crazy within a day. During Question Time last night, I had a conversation with Tom Harris on Twitter which went like this: Tom: Jarvis fairly incoherent but he's right to say that national debt levels matter less to voters than their own circumstances. #bbcqt about 11 hours ago from Tweetie Caron: Is that partly cos you lot fuelled unsustainable booms based on credit so people don't worry about public balance sheet? #bbcqt about 11 hours ago ...
Very disappointing news yesterday, with Justice Secretary Jack Straw denying a pardon to jailed Liverpool fan Michael Shields. For those who don't know, Shields was jailed for 10 years in Bulgaria following an attack on a barman there in 2005. But he has always maintained his innocence. Despite the fact that another man has admitted carrying out the attack, but won't testify to that effect, Straw has concluded that he has to be sure that Shields is both morally and technically innocent before granting a pardon and that he can't give one where he doesn't have that certainty. This is ...
At the request of Jennie, I give you one of the best bikes ever (if not the best bike - mind you, I haven't got a clue - I am relying on this poll). The 1969 Triumph Bonneville T120.
I have oft repeated my dislike of Robert Peston's style. I am sure he is a nice fellow and he is very talented, I just put everything he says through a "down-toning machine". Now Stephanie Flanders. The blue stocking's blue stocking. She's someone I trust. And she has been outpouring a string of pearls of wisdom (see what I did there?) on her Stephanomics blog. I throughly recommend it.
Tim Ireland wants to get into a little spat with Guido and has blogged about how Paul Staines is using the Guido logo which he doesn't hold copyright to. So I alongside Tim Ireland ask the question to Paul Staines which is have you got permission of the creator to use the logo? I predict the answer to that will probably be NO...
The Voice is only a success because of the interest and support from our readers. For many people, just lurking and reading the site is all they want to do – and that's fine, we're grateful for people taking the time to read the site. You can though help us continue to produce interesting content for a growing audience. Here are three simple ways: 1. Let us have your tips for stories. Perhaps there's something outrageous going on in your local council? Or you're an expert in a particular area and have spotted a story other people have missed? Or ...
There are five weeks between the European elections and the constitutive session of the European Parliament. Normally the political parties in the European Parliament allow a clear fortnight after the election before meeting to prepare for the opening of Parliament. This year the major parties did not: the Leaders of both the Christian Democrat and Socialist groups feared that delay might affect their own chances of re-election to the head of their groups; so their procedures were advanced by two weeks. The trouble with this is that the sultry weather in Brussels in June-July and the exhaustion of an election ...
Having warned about some of the common mistakes made when reviewing political websites, what does the evidence show that the public actually wants from such sites? British internet users are far more interested in information about local services than they are in information about politicians. That's the finding of the 2009 Oxford Internet Survey. Of current internet users, 35% have used it to get information about online services whilst only 13% have used the internet to look for information about an MP, local councillor or other politician. Information about central government services was looked for by 33% and information about ...
Lidl have again submitted a new planning application to build a new store on the Former Herman Miller site despite being turned down a few months ago. Lidl claim that they are backed by more than 600 local residents and also claim that there is a shortage of local supermarket shopping on this side of the city. To read the full story follow the link HERE ...
I'm not the biggest fan of Labour, but I like misleading statistics even less. A story wandered its merry way around the blogosphere yesterday, claiming that under Labour violent crime had increased by 77%. The report in the Telegraph has been picked up on The Last Ditch, Patently Rubbish, Marmalade Sandwich and Sharpe's Opinion. In each case the figure has been repeated without question. But questions should have been asked, because the Tory claims turn out to be a bit of a scam. What's really going on? Here's what the Telegraph says about the figures: The figures were sourced from ...
{seat-belts} I was driving back from Tescos last night when my partner told me that the Government was going to raise the fine for not wearing a seat belt from £30 to £60. Clearly I missed this news item amongst the many other news items I'd heard or read in the last couple of days about one thing or another being banned, regulated or funded by the taxpayer. Of course, the justification for increasing the fine is to encourage 'safety' for drivers and their passengers. But let's be clear here, this is not about safety. This is about raising money. ...
It may be a new word to most of us but the Western Mail has now learned that the House of Commons spent more than £450,000 on redacting those MPs' expense claim forms. The £451,966 of public money spent on redacting the information before publication only includes costs until the end of March, with the final figure likely to be higher. Who knew that black ink was so expensive? No related posts.
I have come down for a few days to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. I am here to participate in the Lithuanian World Economic Forum an event which last took place 17 years ago, but has been revived in conjunction with the celebrations of the Millenium of the Lithuanian state and the reign of Vilnius as European capital of culture 2009. It is a very Lithuanian affair, and the several hundred delegates have all been selected as "foreign Lithuanians". It is in fact an outreach to the hundreds of thousands of sucessful Lithuanian ex-pats. I suppose it is a tribute ...
RT @adamcoomes: Study Suggests People Prefer Bing's Design To Google's, But Still Won't Switch http://bit.ly/RIlKT # @iaindale Remember when they brought us extended live coverage of a burst drain in the US? in reply to iaindale # Survey says firms don't talk to bloggers enough: http://bit.ly/3gG3Pd # @marshallmanson Thanks for the follow rec. in reply to marshallmanson # @jamesgraham Big difference between good PR contacts and PR spam, but yeah - PR spam would push that % down v v v quickly in reply to jamesgraham # What's worst widely used algorithm online? My vote is for Digg's 'Your story ...
What is most bizarre about the Western Mail's latest exposé about Assembly Members' expense claims is not that some AMs failed to apply for a 50% rebate on their Council Tax but that the rebate is available at all. In actual fact this is one of the tamer revelations, not just because there is no personal gain involved but that it is easily put right. Now that he or she is aware of the discount an Assembly Member can easily apply for it retrospectively and give the backdated money to the Fees Office. Thus the Assembly itself will not lose ...
Last night a group of Liberal Democrats went to the Wolverhampton North East Conservatives quiz evening, sadly we didn't win. We came third - yes that could lead to many jokes - with 86 from 100 (not too bad actually), at least we won one of the raffle prizes.
I think this is a welcome development. I am sure he made more sense than all those pop stars and comedians they insist on having. More from BBC News.
Gerry Jerome has made a welcome return to Sutton (London borough) council with a convincing win yesterday over the Tories in Nonsuch ward, seizing back a seat the Conservatives won in 2006. Full results: Gerry Jerome (LD) 1665 Georg Braun (Con) 1329 Peter North (BNP) 211 Marcus Papadopoulos (Lab) 88 I don't know who to feel more sorry for: David [...]
Labour have now been in government for more than a dozen years. This government started with so much hope, (do you remeber "Things can only get better"? I do) but now we are left with so much disappointment. Labour has wasted its opportunities and wasted your money. They've invested in health and education but lacked the courage that would have allowed them to spend it effectively. They've failed to build a fairer society and instead inequality has increased and social mobility fallen. They're the party of redistribution but in the wrong direction. Above all they will be remembered for going ...
Some time back someone suggested — not entirely tongue-in-cheek — that I should do the equivalent of an Egon Ronay guide to Liberal Democrat social events in London, as I go to so many. Or maybe a 'Jonathan's Diary' social event review column for Lib Dem News, though the editor of that august journal (wickedly dubbed Pravda by [...]
July 2nd is Herman Hesse's birthday. Hesse is one of my favourite authors, whom I discovered in my teens. On a boat trip to France in the 1970s, a classmate disgustedly threw a book to me that he no longer wanted to read. It was called ...
