It's hard to warm to South African rugby, but you have to admire the names in this BBC live text report of today's third Lions test: South Africa have replaced hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle with Bismarck du Plessis.
A lovely week, we have a barbecue to raise funds for our Church and village hall and look what happens! Not that is spoilt the delicious sausages. It makes one think there should be a "rain tax" - well there is actually. Northumbrian Water has started to charge "non-domestic" properties on the basis of the area for surface drainage rather. This is having an awful effect on such as...
The first editions of Nikolaus Pevsner's The Buildings of England were written after a flying visit to the county in question. So it is no surprise to come across a passage like this (about Leicester in the Leicestershire and Rutland volume: One glance in BISHOP STREET at the former LIBERAL CLUB, facing Town Hall Square. it is in the Loire style, but gabled. Brick with stone dressings. By E. Burgess, 1885-8.When I started working in Leicester back in the 1980s I set out to find the Liberal Club. On the basis of my limited architectural knowledge I decided it must ...
It was only a month ago that Gordon Brown was forced to recall Tessa Jowell to the Cabinet, after it looked like he was not only short on gender balance, but also MPs with an iota of credibility willing to serve. Now it appears that the ultimate 'professional politician' has had enough. I know she's had [...]
Of all the stupid things that this Government has done, abolishing the 10p tax rate was up there with the worst of them. For a party that's supposed to champion the working class, introducing a measure that cost the poorest most was illogical and incomprehensible. It was a disgrace to see people who earned the minimum wage having £30 less in their pockets. Now the Government might be forced to ensure that nobody is penalised by this measure in a crucial Commons vote on Tuesday, according to the BBC. Let's just hope that Alistair Carmichael is leading for the Lib ...
'Hitler got things done', says an admiring Bernie Eccleston. Yes...er....well, that's the problem, isn't it? They were the wrong things. If killing twelve million people is getting things done then I think most people - presumably including our Bernie during his moments of clearer thought - would settle for a slough of despond on any day of the week.
We've all been complaining a lot about the pig's ear the Labour Government is making of the economy, of civil liberties, of, well, everything. Is there anything they are actually doing well? Anyway, Bernie Ecclestone offered us a vision of an alternative which made me realise just how lucky we are. There are very few people I'd prefer Gordon Brown over, but Max Mosley is somewhere near the top of that list. Bernie's interview was quite extraordinary - saying that Hitler was "able to get things done" - sure, it takes some organisational ability to carry out the detention and ...
I see the Weather Channel gives mosquito forecasts in the US....
Keighley Gala day today. Everything seems to have gone well. A great day out! However I myself have been taking it easy at the Portsoy Boat Festival - interesting and fun.
I ask because I was interested in viewing how the main contenders were presenting themselves online. First up, I find the Conservatives are doing an excellent job of it – their website is fresh, clean-looking and can be found at the top of the list by googling `Chloe Smith`. There is also a Tory blogger third [...]
Some offenders are given Community Orders instead of fines or imprisonment. This means they can continue to work, but much of their spare time is taken up working for the local community, under the PayBack scheme. They have to do a minimum of 6 hours a week, supervised by the Probation Service. In South of the Borough we have booked the team for two days each week, and it has proved...
The Telegraph expenses machine grinds relentlessly onward. It is taking me some time to overcome my distress at the news that Jeffrey Donaldson MP is having to repay £555 which he claimed for hotel pay-for-view films. Will he let us know the titles of these films? As taxpayers I think we are entitled to know, given that we have loaned him 555 quid for months. In the absence of such a list, we can only assume that dear Jeffrey watched the film "Room Service 2" multiple times. That it is the only itemisation which appeared on some of thebills. "Room ...
{Great British Eatery} The Birmingham Post carries a glowing review of the Great British Eatery on Francis Street, part of Broadway Plaza – the development on the site of old Children's Hospital near Five Ways. The chips here are heaven sent. If angels eat battered fish, they must swoop down to Francis Road. Every piece of fish is cooked to order and it shows in the crispness. No grease, no clag, just lightness and flavour. Fed up with hours-old, dried out fish? It doesn't have to be that way. Solid local beers from Holdens, in Dudley and Freedom lagers from ...
The big local news this week has been the decision by Derek Wyatt, our Labour MP, not to stand at the next election. He has been MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey since 1997, although he only held on in 2005 with a majority of 79. He has said it is for family reasons following his divorce and I think the fact that he has to defend a tiny majority against what looks like will be a nasty Conservative campaign was too much. Like most MPs he got hit by the expenses scandal and his decision to take the second home ...
So, we're now a month through the Batman Reborn 'event', it might be time to take stock of what's been going on in the bat-titles ( I have of course reviewed a few of these titles here and here earlier...) I've read all the 'Batman Reborn' titles except 'Red Robin', and it's very obvious that despite [...]
There has been a lot of discussion about why the Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg posted his piece on gay rights on LabourList rather than say Lib Dem Voice. My good friend Caron says that we wouldn't allow an opposition politician house room on any Lib Dem election leaflet, and quite right too. But then doesn't LDV allow guest posts from politicians and commentators from different hues. Jennie doesn't hold back on the language [so minors are warned got that Mr Leslie ;)] when she point's out her outrage at what she sees as the glorious leader shooting himself in ...
Everyone knows why Guido blogs its because he likes to take the piss out of politicians and with Brown as his number one target at the moment he loves to do his Prime Mentalist blog posts about how the Prime Minister according to him "cursed" a sporting personality or organisation. But Now Guido has given the Prime Minister something to smile about as you can read below: The Chairman of Raith Rovers F.C. (Brown's local team) is the only man in Britain who wants Gordon to stay in Downing Street...Gordon Brown in my opinion is a hard working politician who ...
Watch this... very carefully... And I assure you, this is a genuine Air New Zealand inflight safety demonstration video...
Welcome to the 123rd of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (21st-27th June 2009), together with a hand-picked quintet, mostly courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down. 1. Iain Dale calls Lib Dem candidate a "whore" on James Graham's Quaequam Blog! Iain indulges himself in some tribal and sexist knocking-copy. 2. Norwich North and Iain Dale and the rights and wrongs of candidates on Nich Starling's Norfolk Blogger blog. Nich's take ...
Well, it's either bonkers or brilliant, but I suspect the former at the moment. To resign as Governor of Alaska completely undercuts the whole argument forwarded on her behalf for the last year - that she was a competent executive office holder. Her executive experience now looks threadbare and she looks as though she is abandoning the voters of Alaska to try to be President. It really is one of the most insane, nutty political moves I have witnessed in many years. "Only dead fish go with the flow" she says, in explanation. Ah but when the seagulls follow the ...
I spoke to some residents on Leinster Road today. Some time ago they were promised double yellow lines on the bend where Leinster meets Harrowby to help deal with parking problems aggravated customers from the nearby brothel. I can remember meeting with officers at the council to get parking restrictions introduced so that traffic wardens [...]
Scholars of Islam from the Sunni sect and especially Brealvi Scholars have launched a war against the terrorists in Islam and the Wahabi's who are destroying the image of Islam. The group that the Scholars have attacked is the Taliban but they on a whole are talking about terrorism. This is just one example of what Sunni and Brealvi Scholars think of terrorism they dislike it so much that many have branded terrorists are non believers. We the Sunni's do not like the terrorists who are destroying the image of Islam and its great to see that Sunni Scholars are ...
No sooner does the 4th Tory leaflet arrive than a Lib Dem response comes keeping the leaflet score at Conservative 4, Lib Dem 4, labour 1, UKIP 1, and the others all zero. I am asking work colleagues to keep track too with a friend of mine in Hellesdon saying he has had no Labour leaflet at all and nobody I know having received anything from the Green Party. I have heard rumblings that the Green Party are finding it very hard indeed to get the leaflets out. In Norwich in recent years they have won lots of council seats ...
Things I love:The fact that she's a proper phone. Louhi is not an iPod with a phone grafted on as an afterthought, she is a phone with other useful features. This means that her primary function - being a phone - is well designed and easy to use. The Satnav. Louhi has a proper GPS satnav in her innards, and once I got the settings sorted, it works really well. If you are driving, I'd recommend downloading and using googlemaps rather than the in-phone one because it's less resource-heavy and updates more quickly. If you're walking, though, the in-phone one ...
Well I've just come out of what can only be described as a heated meeting at Almondvale Stadium called by Angelo Massone. There were tantrums., there were walkouts, there was some getting at the facts and some talking about talks to get a way forward. I Tweeted earlier that Angelo himself turned up late joking that it was like other things. I believe he genuinely wants to put that behind him and move on. Whether that is moving out or not depends on other investment in the club. From what was outlined there is a plan on the table to ...
How do you become an MP? MP also stands for Military Precision, so it's no surprise that Paddy Ashdown's campaign to become MP for Yeovil was long on discipline and short on creature comforts. The Guardian Politics Blog reviews Ashdown's autobiography A Fortunate Life, or at least chapter 10 of it: If you want to become MP you should get a safe seat. But if that doesn't happen, and your only option is to campaign in a constituency where your party doesn't seem to have much chance of winning, then you should definitely take some inspiration from the remarkable story ...
The Tories delivered their 4th campaign leaflet today for the Norwich North by-election. It's an A3, 8 page newspaper style leaflet and it has too many pages for me to put up on this blog so I'll just do the front page. The inside pages have a lot of national content, quite a lot of national article about George Osborne, Cameron and Gordon Brown and a lot of "Insert candidate's name here" stuff with little local relevance alongside some local stuff that has already featured in previous leaflets. Quite professional in appearance but rather dry, the leaflet that is. What ...
Cross-posted from the Mandate blog: Effective use of the internet requires a meld of two factors: what do you want to get from it and what does your audience want from you? You don't have to take your audience's current needs as an absolute given - you can hope to alter them over time - but similarly you can't take your own online needs as absolutely set in stone, because they need to reflect the realities of what your audience is like. So what does your audience want? One useful piece of information to consider is their internet usage habits. ...
Fresh Squeezings from the veins of the internet!Pride Central! Gay-pride.org.uk is a central resource for finding out about pride events local to you. London Pride! Today is, of course, Pride Day for those of you who live in That London. Have fun, if you're going, and if you see a really gorgeous mixed race girl in devil horns, give her a smile, for she is {[info - personal]} ginasketch. Bi Pride! {[info - personal]} djm4 has an excellent post on what bisexuals really want. Lib Dem Pride! Daddy Alex's post about the difference between Labour and Lib Dem stances on ...
We understand that the proposed ballot of transfer of Neath Port Talbot's council housing to a cooperative mutual has been postponed until the New Year. A special council meeting due to have been held on Friday 3rd July, which may or may not have been connected with the progress of the ballot process, was cancelled at ten days' notice. On the one hand, this may allow the "No" campaign to build up a head of steam, especially if threats to haul councillors, who back it, up before the Standards Committee are carried out. It may also threaten some grants from ...
I'm beginning to get the hang of this countryside stuff, I think. This morning, I combined some healthy exercise, a household chore and my councillor responsibilities in one easy task. As Ros is away, I needed food, so I decided to walk to Tesco, which is on the edge of the Cedars Park estate, about a mile away as the crow flies. To do so, I needed to use one of the footpaths that criss-cross the Parish, and for which I, as a Parish Councillor, am apparently responsible. It gives me great satisfaction to report that the footpath parallel to ...
Just some food for thought as their isn't anything else happening to blog about. Was it the image above and many occasions like that which destroyed British politics? Everyone knows of the image of Mr Blair and Brown buying each other ice creams at the Labour party conferences in Blackpool but was it this that caused the problems that we are facing today. If in 1997 Blair throw Brown to the back benches and didn't make him Chancellor he wouldn't have to enjoy ice creams with him and British politics might not be as bad as it is today with ...
Fancy a bit of gentle exercise in the open air tomorrow morning? (Sunday) Then join Wapley Bushes Conservation Group at their work morning. Meet 10.00 am at the gate on Shire Way, Yate. More details available here.
The news this week that student maintenance grants are to be frozen for the academic year 2010 - 2011 is an example of something that I have feared would happen ever since it became clear that Gordon Brown will not admit he has to cut spending. The brief details of the story are that the government seem to be using the excuse that one measure of inflation (RPI) is around 0% to justify no rise in the maintenance grant. This is despite the fact that the cost of living for many people is going up annually much more than 0%, ...
I have been reading LabourList to find this blog post by Nick Clegg and clearly I am amused and I am a little worried about the comments. Can Nick Clegg or anyone else please explain why the leader of the Lib Dems is writing on a Labour blog? Fair enough me writing on LabourList, Stephen Tall from LDV writing for LabourList even if a back bench Lib Dem MP did it but why the leader of the Lib Dems?
The BBC have the full story
In the last year, two of the biggest political issues in decades have hit. First the credit crunch and the world economic slump, then the whole issue around MPs' expenses. On both, radical and decisive action is needed. Whether or not you agree with specific elements of any plan to reform the banking system or revitalise our democracy, few claim there's no need for change. Few are honestly suggesting that sitting around talking about it for a few years before doing nothing very much is the correct response. So why is our Government doing exactly that on both issues? Is ...
Hug a Hoodie take 2? i sometimes think hard about what this party would do or promise for your vote. It's always easy in opposition but when the brown stuff hits the fan! where do they really stand. Been through Thatcher don't make the same mistake again. It's only the rich who end up better [...]
... but WHAT THE BLUE BUGGERY FUCK is Our Glorious Leader doing writing for LabourLost? Seriously, who thought that would be a good idea? He's pissing off the Labourites (Google for the post and look at the comments, I'm not linking to it and bumping up LL's Wikio ranking) and he's pissing off his own party. Lose/lose. If you're going to put something up on the site of another party, here are some ideas to make it NOT an exercise in shooting yourself in the foot:Tell your own people you're going to do it first, so it doesn't look like ...
We tend not to be too poll-obsessed here at LDV - of course we look at them, as do all other politico-geeks, but viewed in isolation no one poll will tell you very much beyond what you want to read into it. Looked at over a reasonable time-span and, if there are enough polls, you can see some trends. Here, in chronological order, are the results of the twelve polls published in June: Tories 37%, Labour 21%, Lib Dems 19% - YouGov/Telegraph (4th June 2009) Tories 38%, Labour 22%, Lib Dems 20% - ComRes/Independent (9th June) Tories 36%, Labour 24%, ...
By Bob Roberts 29/06/2009 EXCLUSIVE: Means-tests to hit middle-class hardest David Cameron plans to scrap universal benefits regardless of income, a think-tank claims. The Tory leader hinted in a speech that popular child benefits and winter fuel payments for all – paid no matter how much people earn – will go, with middle income families worst-hit. Andrew [...]
First of all, the good news. We have a leader who is not ashamed to trumpet his long standing support for equality and gay rights. And, unlike Cameron, he has been consistenly supportive of them all his political life. And, unlike Brown, he would not lead a government where gay people were told to be discreet before being deported back to face persecution from homophobic regimes. We knew this. He's not been shy about it - and it was good that he specifically mentioned gay rights in his speech at Spring Conference earlier this year. So, lots of well deserved ...
The Lib Dem leader has given me cause to return to Labour List for the first time since the early days of whatshisface. On Pride Saturday for the Sassenach gay fraternity he is speaking about gay rights and how far we have come since his University day when Thatcher brought in Section 28. However, he notes: 'however, the inequalities that persist are frustrating. It is ludicrous, for example, that there is still a blanket ban on gay men donating blood, irrespective of whether they practice safe sex or if they have tested negative for HIV. Plus, although civil partnerships have ...
Tory leader David Cameron this week apologised for Section 28, the controversial law brought in by the Conservatives in 1988 banning local authorities from portraying homosexuality in a positive light. Mr Cameron, the first Tory leader to speak at a gay pride event, said: "I am sorry for Section 28. We got it wrong. It [...]
Sat 4th
11:14
MPs' expenses: Jeffrey Donaldson repays £555 claimed for pay-to-view films in hotel. No don't ...
Jeffrey Donaldson, a Democratic Unionist MP, has repaid hundreds of pounds after charging the taxpayer for the cost of watching dozens of pay-to-view films in London hotel rooms. By Rosa Prince, Nick Allen and Christopher HopePublished: 7:20AM BST 04 Jul 2009 In total, Mr Donaldson submitted second home claim forms, including receipts, relating to 68 [...]
The county elections now out of the way, attention turns to the next set of local elections across Suffolk, scheduled for May 2011. Or not, as the case may be. We're due District and Parish elections, but all is on hold pending the results of the Local Government Review for Suffolk, due later this month... probably. The utter confusion caused by a review that commenced on 3 March 2008 with a reporting date of 31 December 2008, then extended to 13 February 2009, just as the county election campaigns were due to get under way, was a sight to behold. ...
Published by Hannah Wooderson for 24dash.com in Central Government , Education Friday 3rd July 2009 – 4:56pm Inquiry launched into school admissions 'rule breaking' Children's Secretary Ed Balls announced an inquiry today into parents "playing the system" to get their child into a good school. It comes after a council dropped its legal case against a mother [...]
Lots of tickets left and no booking fee. Card carrying members 10% discount .
On Thursday I visited the Hastings Lifeboat Station. I have been wanting to go for ages but have struggled to find a working day where I haven't had a toddler in tow. This week we are on a 'staycation' – making the most of the numerous holiday activities to do in Hastings & Rye. The beauty of this, [...]
Oh well better than the dole?
Sat 4th
10:30
CommentIsLinked@LDV: Nick Clegg - While the Conservatives try to appear gay-friendly, they now stand...
Over at LabourList, Nick Clegg pens a powerful post in favour of the strides taken in recent years to enshrine equal rights for gay people. Here's an excerpt: Like many people, in 1997 I hoped that with the right cast into the political wilderness a permanent victory for gay rights was in sight. But discrimination still lingers in the statute book, and homophobia still festers in homes, offices and classrooms. Gay rights, like all minority rights, should by now have become unquestionable. But in practice they are still too often treated like privileges, falling in and out of favour with ...
By Brian Wheeler Political reporter, BBC News Alan Duncan claims Labour is now the 'nasty party' The Conservatives have reacted angrily to claims by two openly gay ministers that many Tory MPs are homophobic. Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw told the BBC News website: "a deep strain of homophobia still exists on the Conservative benches". Foreign [...]
Journalists love to use the phrase 'to be investigated' because it gives the impression of wrong-doing without saying it and because it gives the other parties a convenient hook to latch onto to call for the person's resignation, suspension or general immolation. When at the end of a long process that often takes months, even years the person concerned is declared innocent, it is too late, the damage has been done. The accused person's reputation and career has been damaged and he or she is often exhausted both physically and financially through defending his or her reputation. The damage can ...
saw headlines and went into shock thought Norman Owen had signed for Utd. John i am like you red all the way hope is legs hold up better than Normans,,,
Well Cllr Lindley seems to think i was whittering on about a new party in Salford and he did not no who they were. Ask your Boss we spoke about it on wednesday. Regards....
At the end of last week I went to support the '1066 Country' branch of the Federation of Small Businesses, as well as the Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Eastbourne & Willingdon, Stephen Lloyd, at the Big Sleep Hotel, for Eastbourne's state of the economy debate. On the panel was the Conservative MP for Eastbourne – [...]
Today's Times carries a report on the extraordinarily high levels of rape and domestic violence and abuse amongst indigenous Australians or Aboriginals. It was an interesting report, but in the same way that I can be distracted by a misplaced apostrophe, my mind was diverted by an amazingly poor understanding of very simple statistics early [...]
Mrs Cobden has spent much of the week in Harrogate, trying to lobby Councillors at the LGA Conference. She arrived back on Thursday evening with bagfuls of goodies for the kids - we'll probably be spending the weekend throwing out some of the old toys to make way for the new. We've got squishy morph like creatures, boxes of sweets and a 'Finding Nero' style, squishy orange fish with the words "Peterborough City Council: Business Transformation" on the side. By all accounts, there were loads of bespoke exhibition stands where local authorities were promoting themselves to the thousands of Councillors ...
Mayby time flies when you're having fun, but it's strange to me that a monthly update from the Leader of WLDC is now two months out of date. Maybe the Conservative Administration aren't doing anything worth talking about?
The news this morning that the Statue of Liberty will mark Independence Day with public being allowed to the crown from the first time since 9/11 is good news. It also coincides with the start of Le Grande Slog across France, Spain, Andorra, Switzerland and Italy towards her sister who sits on another Isle in the capital of the country of her birth. The full route is shown visually below. On the 40th Anniversary of the moon landings is suitable marked with the penultimate stage up through the lunar landscape to the peak of Mont Ventoux, though it is 4 ...
It's been another madly busy (and hot!) few days and I've struggled to find time to blog – even though there's so much to write about. My thoughts on government climbdowns, heatwaves, Michael Jackson and Sarah Palin will all have to wait. Possibly forever. But I've not been idle. In the last couple of weeks, I've: - appeared as [...]
I am more than happy to take Sarah Palin's imminent resignation as Governor of Alaska at face value. After all it is difficult to see how this action could advance her career in anyway whatsoever. Whether there is a scandal waiting to break I do not know. We will just have to wait and see. However, I know how difficult it is to maintain a work-life balance when you are a full-time politician and I am in a very minor and insignificant league. The strain on Palin's family must have been immense and would not have been helped by her ...
The Western Mail speculates that Rhodri Morgan's departure as First Minister could see the Welsh Liberal Democrats brought into the One Wales government either shortly after the General Election or after the next Assembly Elections, to create a broad-based left-of- centre administration with widespread public support. The speculation is reinforced by the widespread perception that Plaid Cymru's Leader, Ieuan Wyn Jones is doing such a poor job as Economy and Transport Minister. A Welsh Labour strategist is quoted as saying: "There would be another advantage in bringing the Liberal Democrats in. Three of the four Plaid ministers are doing a ...
Following the resignation announcement of Sarah Palin yesterday as Alaskan Governor there are now rumours flying around that she went because of what is being dubbed an "Iceberg Scandal" that is about to break. The rumours are focused on the $14.7 Wasilla sports complex that was built during Palin's time as Mayor of Wasilla. There are allegations that the price of the complex was inflated in order to provide free building materials and labour for the Palin family home that was being built at the same time. There were also links between the contractors and architects used on the sports ...
Following the sad death of Liberal Democrat Councillor Graham Gopsill there will eb a by-election for the Droitwich Central ward of Wychavon District Council on 16 July.
Just heard yet another lazy Lab/Con ding-dong battle that ends up in stalemate – again without a third voice from the Liberal Democrats. `My Gay rights are better than your Gay rights`! So, Alan Duncan says that the Tories are `friends of Gays` while Angela Eagle says `look at your record`. We don't get very far as [...]
Should we be able to break the law with impunity for a cause we genuinely and sincerely believe in? Yesterday, 22 climate change protestors were found guilty of obstructing a train carrying coal bound for the Drax power station - they will likely find themselves thousands of pounds out of pocket (had they won, the taxpayer would presumably have picked up the bill). There have been other examples. A few years ago, anti-GM crop protestors destroyed crop trials in farms around the UK. Last year, protestors who defaced a chimney at Kingsnorth power station in Kent were acquitted by a ...
My latest quiz closes at 23:59 on Tuesday 7 July. To win a copy of "A Useful Fiction" by Patrick Hannan just e-mail me the answers to the five questions below: After whom is the Barnett formula named? Who wrote: "We are bought and sold for English gold -/What a parcel of rogues in a nation"? In which year did the people of North East England vote against the establishment of a regional assembly in a referendum? Who said of Enoch Powell: "Poor Enoch! Driven mad by the remorselessness of his own logic." Which MP is currently 326th in the ...
I attended a meeting with ward councillors from Swinton and Pendlebury, the council leader and council officers yesterday to discuss how to address problems associated with Swinton Town centre. We looked at the effects of the recession on shops; the problems caused by the sell off of the car-park and the introduction of pay and [...]
We have just arrived in Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands, having spent a day and a half sailing across the North Atlantic from Iceland. So we've done volcanoes, whale watching, geysers and waterfalls. Today we go to Skara Brae and then it's back to Harwich for the end of this holiday.Given the poor signal at sea, I turned on the blackberry as we arrived this morning in Kirkwall and got a bucketful
As reported in today's "Courier" (click on headline above to view), yesterday I met with two senior representatives of Royal Mail, including their Dundee West Sorting Office Manager, to discuss the deluge of complaints I have received over the past two months regarding the quality of mail deliveries across the West End of the City and the wider Dundee West area. The talks were positive and I hope that residents will see improvements to mail deliveries. This meeting gave me the opportunity to raise the many concerns I have received from residents about detrimental aspects of mail deliveries in the ...
Do you remember the Sedgefield by-election? I do! I went to do the photos and video for the Lib Dem campaign (and managed to write off one video camera in the process when I got caught in one of those massive downpours.) I wasn't the only councillor from Gateshead to be involved with the by-election. Paul Foy, Labour councillor for Birtley and office assistant for Blaydon MP David Anderson, was
We don't do an LDV Daily View 2 x 2 round-up on Saturdays, so instead here's an open thread. What stories have caught your eye? What issues are on your mind? Are you mourning Andy Murray's Wimbledon semi-final defeat? Are you looking forward to the cooler weather? Or have you spotted an interesting political story, perhaps even one connected to the Lib Dems? And what do you make of Sarah Palin's decision to step down as Alaskan governor? Discuss away in the comments below...
Conservative administration fails to deliver on performance. Taken from the Council's own documents, is there any more hard evidence needed showing the failings of the Conservatives in West Lindsey? Performance Band Lib Dem 2007/08 Tory 2008/09 Direction of Travel On plan/completed on plan ˜ 97% 51% i
I have mentioned here in the past that my cousin is a Labour party activist, God bless her, she'll carry on playing her fiddle while Captain Brown is at the helm of this Titanic failure. Anyhoo, she sent me this note on Facebook so enjoy. ● The [Insert your choice] Party is a great movement for change, made up of people determined to serve the public interest and not their own; ● I seek elected office for the honour of serving the public and our democracy and not to use it just as a way of meeting girls/boys; ● I ...
I've always loved 'That Mitchell and Webb look' along with Peep Show and basically any time David Mitchell is on television. But this new series of their sketch comedy show is in fact absolute genius. I've been loving the post apocalyptic quiz show, among other things. But after watching the last episode I can honestly [...]
Four years ago the Conservative Administration set about moving WDLC from the Guildhall to the new offices in Marshalls Yard. According to the Leader, there was a sound business case to move and there were savings to be made.We now have seen that there were NO savings made, in fact it's cost the taxpayers of WLDC an extra £85,000 for the new building and over £200,000 in costs associated with
The ALDE (Liberal) Group in the new European Parliament has chosen the Flemish Liberal and former Prime Minister of Belgium, Guy Verhofstadt, to be its new leader. He takes over from the British (South West England) Liberal Democrat MEP Graham Watson, who has meanwhile thrown his hat into the ring to try to be the [...]
