Here we go again. Late Sunday and I'm still bloody working. Just filed the WSR report, now to Justin Wilson's brilliant victory at the Glen. #
It is good to celebrate, and good to have something good to celebrate. So a barbie tonight (no rain!) for local helpers to celebrate getting Fiona Hall back into the European Parliament, and Fiona dropped in to say "thank you" too. As part of our "sorting out" we have a number of items that we no longer want but have keeping as "they will come in for someone, sometime". I've been...
Just a quick blog after spending the evening working on my leaflet as I attempt to get selected in Plymouth. Now I am sure a quick google will tell you what a struggle winning either Plymouth seat will be and so you might be surprised that actually quite a few applied for the two seats. So I was pleased to be shortlisted and was then faced with the task of putting together a leaflet by the deadline. Unfortunately it also tied in with a really busy week in London and a quick trip to Bristol yesterday to do a topographia ...
The gap in life expectancy between the prosperous middle classes and those in the most deprived homes is widening sharply. The emerging pattern suggests that the well-off are adopting healthier lifestyles while the poor are still drinking and smoking and cannot afford to change diets. Men in Blackpool now live on average 10.5 years fewer than their counterparts in Kensington. Whilst women in Hartlepool have the lowest female life expectancy, around 9.6 years less than in the central London borough. This is simply not good enough, whilst life expectancy has been rising for the past two centuries, the gap is ...
Coming towards the end of the line by line scrutiny of the Bill. Blogging the little bit of it that I have has been quite a struggle as there is so much to cover - and I simply can't cover all of it. For those who are interested - the entire transcript of all the evidence sessions and committee sessions is on Hansard - so for those who want word by word of each moment - that's the place for you. The key issues in the 17th and 18th sessions were as follows. There was an extraordinary response from Vera ...
Today I went down to Norwich with Lorely Burt - Solihull's MP - to help April Pond in the Norwich North by-election.
These disturbing videos tell part of the story of what happened in Birmingham city centre on Saturday. In the first video there appears to be something like a small explosion after 7.5 minutes. There's been very little media coverage of this, surprising considering the content of the videos and sheer numbers of police on show. I should just add that these videos were not made by me (!) and are taken directly from YouTube.
Mark Valladares has responded sensibly to a post from Charlotte Gore about standing as a parliamentary candidate. First of all, it is utter and complete cobblers to say that blogging freely, even freely to the extent that Charlotte blogs, precludes winning elections. You only have to look at Boris Johnson. Now he really went to town over years publishing his dodgy, eccentric views to millions of people, not just the thousands (or indeed tens) that read blogs. And the Labour party went through his columns with a fine tooth comb and repeated the dodgy bits ad nauseam in the London ...
I am remiss in blogging the things I am doing outside of the Equality Bill - but I am still doing the usual level of meetings, events and so on. I met with the Gurkhas at Parliament to support the campaign for equal pension rights. I met with a local woman who is starting a campaign to get a counsellor (talking therapy kind - not Haringey Council) into every primary school. I think this is a very good idea - and in principle am supporting her campaign. I met with a Japanese reporter who wanted my assessment of the key ...
On we went to the 15th and 16th sitting of the Equality Bill Committee during the week. The first part of the day was spent on the Public Sector Equality Duty. Tim Boswell (Tory) had tabled an amendment that sought to add protection of an individual's human rights to the public sector equality duty. The argument he made (rightly in my view - and I have a new clause along the same lines next Tuesday) was that the Bill should not only be about stopping discrimination on specific grounds - the 'protected characteristics' such as race, sex, disability, religions, sexual ...
He get good marks for theatre. Cameron moves around the platform -and especially with questions he was good at interacting with the audience. 'But was there any content?' I hear the sceptical reader ask., well not just the sceptical reader it was the anxiously asked question on the lips of Tories. I guess they were concerned because coming after Cable-who was content-rich- there was a danger that he would sound glib and 'lite'. The answer to that question is not straight forward. He was keen to let the world know that 'he got it'; 'it' being that the world of ...
What a day it's been! I am completely shattered after staying up too late last night and am emotionally drained after watching the Wimbledon Final. There was some unanimity amongst the Scottish Tweeting blogosphere - we were all supporting Andy Roddick and were disappointed when his valiant efforts ended in such a close defeat at 16-14 in the final set. Anyway, I have spent this week putting together my first ever Scottish Round Up in easy stages. I've really enjoyed it. If you haven't seen it already, go and have a look and find out why Stephen tweeted me within ...
South Wales West Liberal Democrats will be out at the Bridgend County Show on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th July 2009 at Pencoed College, Pencoed, Bridgend. Our special guest on Sunday will be Welsh party leader, Kirsty Williams.
Mollie Sugden who was born in Keighley died last week. Her outrageously camp humour was a delight. Hope she has a great time up there with the saints.
My servers all run off a nice big UPS, yet it seems that every day or two they suffer a reset for some reason. I suspect that it is supply-initiated, either a spike or some other glitch resetting momentarily the systems and needing a remote reset of some of the services. Most annoying!
I am confident that Labour will get rid of Brown by the end of 2009 and this has lead me to see a blog post on Mark Reckons which I agree with. I like Mark believe that Brown will go by the end of 2009 and for that reason I am going to make a little proposition on this blog. If Gordon Brown does not go by the end of 2009 then I shall give £10 to a charity of the readers choice. In the next couple of weeks/months I shall ask you what charity you want the money to ...
I have just finished reading Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson. The book, and the two books that followed, have been in the shops for a number of years. If you have already devoured Stephenson's Baroque Cycle you will know more about the characters and plots than me. I came to the book on a recommendation from a friend and follower blogger. Quicksilver is well written and very entertaining. It is about many things but if one had to tweet its subject it would be, 'the making of the modern world'. Stephenson covers the creation of central banks, the establishment of national ...
I had the pleasure of attending the Friends of Balgay summer meeting yesterday at which Jim Crumley, undoubtedly Scotland's foremost creative nature writer, undertook a illustrative talk around Balgay Hill, on the subject of 'Balgay trees and wildlife'. It was a glorious afternoon and Jim is both informative and entertaining - here's a photo (above right) from the afternoon.
OK, so I lost the bet(s). I had said that Gordon Brown would be out by the end of June and both Charlotte Gore (from off of the Wikio political blogs top 23) and Kalvis Jansons (from off of the Gordon Brown resign petition) now have their £10 each from me. I do still have another bet on with Constantly Furious for £10 that Brown will be out before the end of the year. I am still sure that Labour will get rid of him and think it may well happen in the Autumn. I am wondering if I should ...
Matt O'Grady is away this week and has asked me to do his blog summary. I had hoped to have a look at the big policy discussons that had dominated the blogs this week but, unfortunately, this has not been a good week for political debate. Firstly, we saw the most recent release of AMs expenses. The full database can be found here but the expense revelations are full of the absurd as well as the dubious. To my mind, Freedom Central highlights the one with the biggest questions to answer, namely Nick Bourne's missing website. Kirsty Williams also points ...
Sun 5th
17:39
Richard Carvath one of the candidates for hazels seat is on Salford Online, any views on the intervi...
Richard Carvath: Independent PPC – Part 2 <!–Last Updated – 1st July 2009 at 09:40 PM –> <!– –> Reporter: Tom Rodgers Camera: Momo Omari In the second in a three-part look at the candidates for the Salford seat at the 2010 General Election, we interview Richard Carvath, who stands as an Independent. In this section we go into [...]
From the Manchester Evening News website... POLICE have a launched a murder inquiry after a man was shot dead in an off licence. Officers were called to Brookhouse Wines, on Brookhouse Avenue in Peel Green, Salford, at about 9pm on Saturday night. They found a 27-year-old man who had suffered gunshot wounds. He was taken to hospital but died a short time later. A group of men fled from the shop in a car that was later found burnt out nearby. Nothing was stolen from the off licence. Ten people have been arrested and are being questioned by police. Police ...
<!–Last Updated – 5th July 2009 at 03:39 PM –> A murder investigation has been launched after a man was shot in a shop in Salford. Ten people have been arrested following the murder of a 27-year-old shop worker in Salford. Officers are appealing for witnesses to the incident at Brookhouse Wines in Winton last night, [...]
Alex Hilton's girlfriend interviewed the Tory health spokesmen Andrew Lansley as part of her job and wrote up what he said which the media reported on and the Tories didn't like the negative coverage because the Tory health spokesperson said: 'Conservatives pledge real terms cuts to NHS wages' First of all if the Tory health man is going to make comments like the above then the Tories shouldn't make out its some kind of Labour conspiracy when clearly it is not. Alex Hilton's girlfriend does her own work, and Alex does his own. Alex now runs his PR company with ...
Sun 5th
17:00BROWN'S £1,200 TAX BOMBSHELL god it's going to be hard worrying what to spend the rest on?
Gordon Brown is planning masive tax hikes Sunday July 5,2009 By Jason Groves Have your say(18) FAMILIES face a £1,200-a-year tax bombshell after the next election if Labour win to meet Gordon Brown's pledge to maintain lavish public spending levels. The crippling increase, equivalent to more than the average family's entire annual council [...]
Gordon Brown under new pressure over public finances Gordon Brown has come under fresh pressure over the public finances after John Hutton, the former defence secretary, said that voters expect "honesty" about the need for cuts in Government spending. By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent Published: 11:38AM BST 05 Jul 2009 John Hutton: 'The country expects [...]
The to be boss of MI6 wears Speedos, first of all And...? His job is to wear trousers (preferably) and stop terrorist attacks and that is not compromised by the fact that he wears speedos. The Lib Dems want an investigation I ask why? Facebook is a social networking site that people post pictures on. If their is a picture of the to be head of MI6 on it with speedos on or even naked it doesn't make a massive difference because he is going to keep his trousers on when he works. Clearly this is a case of media ...
Residents from Cheetham Road have contacted me about the poor state of the alley running behind their houses. It sits over a main sewer and is collapsing in places - the alley is very uneven. Because it's surfaced with sets the alley is a huge trip hazard and it's where the residents have to put out [...]
Yesterday's local assembly in the park went really well. Fantastic weather, a great turn out and lots of good stuff going on. But don't take my word for it - see for yourself with my latest attempt at YouTube!
There's an open day at Manor House Library on Wednesday to mark the launch of the report of the Commission on Libraries and Adult Learning. As part of the celebrations there will be fun family learning activities for children under five between 3pm and 3.45pm. Between 5.30pm and 7.30pm, Community Education Lewisham will be offering people the chance to try their hand at crafts such as decorating a bag, creating pom poms, making sugar flowers and writing music. There will also be the opportunity to relax with either an Indian head massage or reflexology.
Welcome to the 124th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (28th June – 4th July 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. Since when was being a PPC the be all and end all of anything? on Mark Valladares' Liberal Bureaucracy blog. 'Adherence to the totality of Liberal Democrat policy has never been a requirement.' Thank God. 2. LibDems Trounce Tories in ...
A person who I shall not mention but is a great man but most reading this will not no the individual so I shall continue, recently commented on a trip that he had taken to France and what he witnessed. The man so prostitution and begging taking place in and around Paris and when he asked the people who were escorting him around the city who are these people who are poor and have to beg in Paris the reply he got was they are Bosnian children. Now many people don't write about this but I think it deserves a ...
Its great to see that many blogs from across the political spectrum are linking to me on thier blog rolls. I have tried to link back to most of them that I have noticed but if I haven't linked back to you and you link to me then please drop me an email. I think its only right for me to link back to people who link to me so please do let me know that you link to this blog.
We work hard to fix problems large and small in the ward and this week was no exception. Last year we successfully campaigned for the first ever glass recycling facilities to be installed in the ward. Labour-run Reading Borough Council had failed for many years to deliver even these basic glass recycling facilities. The bottle bank on Erleigh Road has proved very popular with students and local residents and last July we reported that they were regularly overflowing. During the past 12 months residents from the local area have been contacting us regularly asking for the banks to be emptied by the Council more regularly. Messages ...
Let's assume that a decent percentage of the population do not like the nanny state and support a smaller government. So from that, let's assume that there is a % of the electorate who might be prepared to support the views of the Libertarian Party (Yes, I know I am making bug jumps but stick with me). So why do they then undo this by making an issue of the smoking ban ? The most stupid quote they use is "Smoking is healthier than Fascism". True, but smoking is less healthy than democracy, and we do have democracy in this ...
It's Sunday morning, so another tough decision. Shall I go to church, or shall I write about sex fantasy stories on the Internet? OK, not that tough. And the day after Pride London (not London Pride - a beer I've never rated) seems an ideal time to write about sexual deviancy. Back in the good old days, only the rich and powerful were allowed to be sexual deviants. Lord such-and-such might have a taste for young boys, but he was decent enough to keep it private and, in so many other ways, he was a fine and upstanding chap so ...
Headline on the front page of todays Observer: ' Pay freeze threat to all public workers'. The small print doesn't say whether this will apply to those on the top of the pyramid as well as the worker ants at the bottom but I'll take a decent wager that excuses will be found along the lines of 'need to attract the best talent' so that the 'haves' are exempted from pain. How long will the mass of the people continue to put up with this? Sadly, since they seem to think that voting Conservative [ or failing that BNP or ...
David Schwartz writing in the Financial Times of 4th July describes the £9.6m pay package for the new RBS chief as 'draw dropping'. Apparently this is justified by the challenge of the job. David Schwartz says " Funny that, I thought he was paid £1.2million a year [the basic salary] precisely to handle a challenging job. The RBS Board appears to believe £ 1.2m merely encourages [him] to turn up for work each day. Getting him to act costs extra" It is truly extraordinary that this supine Government, who now own this catastrophe of a bank with our money, are ...
The Green Party like to make out that they stand aside from mainstream politics and they are not professional politicians. They want to be seen as something different and stand out for that. Yet whenever they get involved in anything non political they seem to want to politicise it. Take a planning meeting, held in public in North Walsham a few months ago. This non political public meeting was chaired by the local County Councillor, local representatives turned up to hear what was being said along with more than 200 people. They all accepted it was a local issue and ...
What I find particularly concerning about the linked article is the way in which the father concerned was silenced as a result of being wrongly sectioned.
Dear Councillors Walker, Boyle and McGinty, CC: Livingston FC, Angela Constance MSP As a local council tax payer who has also been since 2000 a regular follower of Livingston I am concerned about the mixed messages that the council is giving over the future of senior football in West Lothian. Yesterday along with many others including Angela Constance I attended a meeting called by Angelo Massone in the Almondvale Suite. He has assured us that he has written to the council with a three month scheme to satisfy the back rent of the stadium that is due. He also outlined ...
Work in pipeline By MICHELLE COOKE - East And Bays Courier Last updated 05:00 26/06/2009 The east and bays area has three major water projects in the pipeline. The water supply at Remuera and Mt Wellington are currently being upgraded, while work on the Hobson pipeline is continuing in preparation for the tunnel to open next year. Auckland city councillor and finance and strategy committee chairman Douglas Armstrong says water prices have been comparatively low over the last 10 years and an increase in the coming year is inevitable to meet the community's water requirements. Watercare says that construction of ...
Sun 5th
13:45
Public Sector Pay - How much does Steve Bundred (the head of the Audit Commission) get paid ?
The head of the Audit Commission is apparently urging the government to impose a public sector pay freeze this year. Whilst I can see the logical arguments in favour of this (even as a public sector worker), I do not accept his justification for making this statement. Apparently he feels that the health and education sectors are ripe for public sector pay freezes because he felt that public sector workers had "done well" in the past 10 years and would "tolerate" modest reductions. Now if this were true, I would be even happier. However my last four pay rises have ...
The BBC has the story: A Tory peer referred to the police over expenses says it is part of a campaign of "attacks and innuendo" by an MP. Lord Hanningfield claimed the unnamed MP was determined to "blacken my name" over education policy in Essex, where the peer is council leader. The frontbencher claimed £99,970 over seven years for the cost of staying in London, despite living 40 miles away. Lib Dem MP Bob Russell said he believed the peer was referring to him but added he was only interested in the facts. ... Colchester MP Bob Russell, who raised ...
With The Duckworth Lewis Method being released tomorrow, it is time for this while it is still the best song about a spin bowler. (Thanks to Hywel, in a comment on that post, for the inspiration.) And here it is, live from Frome. Half Man, Half Biscuit are a band from Birkenhead, known for their humorous lyrics (and humorous titles in particular) and concern with the minutiae of provincial life. A 2001 Guardian article by Kevin Sampson gives a good portrait of the band, even if he does think that Fred Titmus is a "fiery Yorkshire pace legend". As readers ...
On Tuesday at the First Great Western public meeting I raised concerns about the sustainability of future improvements to our rail services in Reading. I was concerned that most of the PowerPoint slides on some of the dramatic improvements to train services in Reading we are told we can expect over the the next few years in the presentation by the FGW boss contained a number of very big price tags. In my mind was the current dire state of the public finances, escalating national debt etc thanks to ongoing failure to manage the economy by Brown and Darling. I was also thinking in particular about the news ...
Appologies for not posting the list last week but here is this weeks list from 1-10 of top 10 searchers: irfan ahmedzakir naikobama reads urdu poetrymori pollsaddamnightjackzakirnaikelaine bagshawalan duncanmohammed sarwar mp
I've spent the morning calf deep in cool, refreshing water, doing good. The River Gipping flows through Stowmarket, and was once canalised as far upstream as where the railway station now stands. However, it was never terribly deep, and now provides a sanctuary for the town's vast duck population, as well as providing a nice spot for a stroll on a summer afternoon. The Pickerel Project works to keep the river tidy, and this morning, I joined their Patron for a session of litter picking. Apparently, you're supposed to wear wellies and gloves but, as a recovering city dweller, I ...
With a few other Councillors, I have a meeting on Friday with the Chief Executive of Liverpool Mutual Homes. This is the organisation that took over the remaining City Council properties in the stock transfer and so is responsible for maintenance etc of these homes. If you live in Cressington or near to Cressington, and have an issue you want me to raise, please let me know. If you issue is very private to you its probably better to e mail me personally at paula.keaveney@liverpool.gov.uk. If its a general one about site maintenance etc, do post on the blog( although ...
Lib Dem blogger Jonathan Fryer has the details (with apologies for LDV's belatedness): 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 new President of the parliament. Under Graham's stewardship, ALDE grew to just over 100 members within the previous, larger, parliament. The British were the biggest national contingent in ALDE then, but they ...
Just when you thought that the old ideological Conservatives had been sacrificed on the altar of Cameronism and electability, the shadow international development secretary pops his head above the parapet with another barking mad scheme. Andrew Mitchell is proposing to inject free-market thinking into development policy by giving aid vouchers will be given to millions of people in the poorest parts of the world so they can shop around for the best schools and services. He says that a Conservative government would also spend part of the £9.1bn overseas aid budget on funding for private schools across the developing world, ...
Cast your minds back a couple of weeks, and there was a bout of speculation that Labour, under pressure from the NAS/UWT teaching union, is considering a possible ban on British National Party members working as teachers in schools. We asked LDV readers the question: Do you think there should be a change to teachers' contracts to prevent BNP members from teaching? Here's what yout told us: 27% (92 votes) – Yes 69% (235) – No 4% (12) – Other Total Votes: 339 Poll ran: 22nd June 2 July 2009 Don't forget, our new poll – asking if you support ...
This is just a little vignette from yesterday as to how much easier it can be to read newspapers online rather than in print form. I was sitting downstairs on my sofa with the dog lying across my lap. My iPhone was next to me and The Independent on Saturday was just out of reach at the other end of the sofa. I could have moved the dog, got up, picked up the paper, sat back down and then flicked through it to get to the pieces I wanted to read (Deborah Orr and the other leading articles was what ...
Some of you may not know that former Lib Dem Director Of Innovations is not only a campaigns guru, he's also an elections geek and his particularly speciality is the elections and politics of the 19th century. He's written this counter factual report of what might have happened if a crucial knife edge vote on the Great Reform Act had led to its defeat rather than its passing. Ok, so it's about a period in history I find absolutely fascinating anyway, but his account is quite gripping and is definitely worth spending some time on a Summer sunday morning on. ...
John Rentoul has an interesting article on Twitter in today's Independent on Sunday in which he comes to the same conclusion as a lot of other people - Twitter and other social networking sites are just a tool that enable you to communicate with different audiences. Nevertheless, he says so in a much more entertaining manner: Mostly, the new media are more "democratic" than the traditional media, because they are so much more open - with not just hundreds of TV channels but millions of YouTube users. Anyone can start a blog. But media traffic between politicians and the rest ...
Yesterday I read in Patrick Hannan's book A Useful Fiction: "As for those Dawkins opposes [religions] , it's difficult to escape the conclusion that, far from concerning themselves with central questions of belief and the way in which they should shape the lives of their congregations, Christian churches have become almost completely preoccupied by disputes about the sexual practises of the clergy." Well yesterday I was also reading about Scott Rennie recieving a ovation when he was installed as the new Minister of Queen's Cross Kirk in Aberdeen and Nick Clegg calling for more gay rights. Then this morning we ...
With the news that Sara Palin has resigned as Governor for Alaska many will be questioning this thinking she is making an exit from politics but I don't think that is the case. I believe that Sara has done this so she can start the preparation to become the Republican candidate for the US Presidential election. According to Political Betting the bookies are staying safe by giving a 8/1 for her becoming the Republican candidate and a 10/1 on her becoming the President and if I was team Obama I would be scared. I don't know US political history but ...
An exciting new book has hit the stands - it contains the next big idea and we should all buy it. "Free: The Future of a Radical Price" isn't free at all. It's the latest wheeze from Chris Anderson, who came up with the now largely discredited "long tail" theory. (The idea behind the long tail is that since a virtual shop, unrestrained by shelf space, can sell millions of titles, suddenly people will be able to make real money by selling a few copies of each of the vast array of books, albums or whatever else is out there. ...
2 Big Stories MI6 head's wife posts private details to Facebook I'll try and be charitable here. After all, spouses and partners do not choose their loved ones jobs. But, really, if you are married to the incoming head of MI6 there are certain things you just don't do, such as provide details about your kids and the location of your flat on Facebook without any privacy protection at all – enabling any of the social networking site's 200 million users to access her profile. Here's the BBC: Details about the personal life of the next head of MI6, Sir ...
I know that service personnel and their families often get a raw deal - there have been scandals about our troops being ill equipped on duty, badly cared for if they are injured and poorly housed at home. Now I discovered in today's Sunday Herald that the MOD includes travelling time from places like Iraq and Afghanistan in the calculation of soldiers' leave. So, exhausted troops, who may have faced all sorts of ordeals and traumas in the field, have their time at home, when they can relax with their families, and recharge their batteries, cut short. No wonder soldiers ...
This was my contribution to the collection of historical counter-factuals, President Gore...: and Other Things That Never Happened. The general election of July and August 1830 took place in an atmosphere of intense political crisis. The 1829 harvest had been very poor and food prices rose sharply. Widespread agricultural riots and organised protests spread, triggered not only by the state of the economy but also by the make-up of the political system. Demands for electoral reform - in particular an extension of the franchise to give more people the vote, and the granting of seats to the new industrial towns ...
During the week that the doors of transparency were thrown open to the NHS in Wales, it was unfortunate that the Health Minister's expenses log revealed an office shredder as one of her most notable claims. Edwina Hart had encouraged members of the public to "read the documents and come along" to the first meeting of her new National Advisory Board set up to run the new NHS. 'Voice not choice' is the phrase coined by supporters of the new 'citizen focused' Welsh health service. Come to Cardiff Bay and see how we do things differently, her welcoming committee proclaimed ...
Steve McNair was one of the pioneering African Americans in the world of NFL has been found shot dead in Nashville. The league had long been used to seeing African American players in the skill positions but normally as backs or wide receivers. McNair was one of the first to make the big leagues controlling the huddle and throwing the pigskin as Quarterback. In 1991 he was actually drafted in the 35th round of the Baseball draft by the Seattle Mariners out of Mount Olive, Miss but he wanted to play football. Bigger colleges wanted him, but to play defensive ...
Does Chloe Smith have unnaturally healthy skin – and why does she look like Ruth Kelly's daughter? I think we should call a televised public meeting (a local channel or community radio venture?) and ask for every candidate to take part. Chloe Smith looks like a hollow shell.
Not only do I not get texts that deal PROPERLY with their shortcomings ie not getting basic facts right on a programme entitled `Westminster Hour` about the political compositions of Councils they are now IGNORING the Liberal Democrats as they see fit. Take for example this utterly nonsensical hollow `wooing the Gays` ding-dong battle. Did you [...]
No, honestly, this has to be the most boring blog I have ever read.
This year's London Pride was certainly the most enjoyable I remember: perfect weather for the march, excellent stewarding and a really great atmosphere amongst both the participants and the crowds. The Liberal Democrats made a bigger splash than ever before, with a striking banner, a balloon-festooned, disco-music blaring, Union Flag-topped Mini driven by Hackney South and [...]
