Charlotte Gore has kindly compiled the list of the top Lib Dem blogs in the new Wikio rankings. I have reworked her presentation slightly, putting last month's position in brackets.6 (7) Liberal Democrat Voice23 (37) Charlotte Gore27 (55) Mark Reckons31 (29) Liberal England33 (35) Quaequam Blog!36 (44) Himmelgarten Cafe48 (34) Peter Black AM50 (46) People's Republic of Mortimer73 (75) Stephen Linlithgow's Journal77 (-) Miss S B (Jennie Rigg)I think having six Lib Dem blogs in the top 36 is pretty damned impressive.
The media have had some fun today with the Tories by contrasting David Cameron's rhetoric on Quangos with the fact that they have already pledged to bring in through various announcments. They are: 1. Office of Tax Simplification2. Office of Budget Responsibility3. Free national financial advice service4. 'Sports Commission' (Australian model)5. Office for Civil Society6. Social Investment Bank7. Skills advisory service for service personnel8. Service for families of departing armed forces personnel9. Military inquest family advisory service10. International Aid Watchdog11. Innovative Projects Agency12. National Foundation for STEM13. HealthWatch14. Defence Export Services Organisation15. All Age Careers Service16. Voluntary Action Lottery Fund17. ...
A target mailing today from the Lib Dems. The score ? Lib Dems 5, Tories 4, UKIP 1, Labour 1, Others nil. Update : The Tories also have a target mailing going out. You can link to it HERE. This makes it Tories and Lib Dems level on five leaflets each.
Speaker John Bercow certainly didn't flinch from his accusations of leaking against whips. As I Spy Strangers reports: The Speaker of the House of Commons has told MPs that neither he nor his staff leaked details of his statement to the House on proposals to elect his deputies. John Bercow said that he had consulted with government and opposition whips before he made his statement last Thursday... The Speaker told MPs that he was "confident" his staff were not responsible, and pointed the finger at the whips. Mr Speaker said the leak damaged the reputation of the House. "I give ...
Oh. My. God. That was actually GOOD. Better than good. It was great. Pacing was perfect, suspense was building, ending was a stunning cliffhanger: wa-HEY! I was ( SPOILER! ) when Rupesh ( SPOILER! ) because ( SPOILER! ). And Peter Capaldi is clearly ( SPOILER! ) which is ( SPOILER! ) because that's a bit predictable. Is his secretary ( SPOILER! ) by the way? I forgot to check the credits. I liked Tim/( SPOILER! ). He was a nice quirky detail. And I loved all the little domestic touches. Stephen's mum and ( SPOILER! ) were a nice ...
For a while since my return to blogging many have deemed me to be the foremost voice on the blogs of Scottish Lib Dem Bloggery. But I have competition and I couldn't be happier with who is coming up behind in on the June Wikio Political listings. As my good friend Caron has already posted the list of the Top Seven Scottish Blogs so by my linking back to her I'm not not sure if my 6 places higher gives her more influence than her link to me. Long ago seem the days that I helped Caron with some of ...
At the weekend I went to the premier of the comedy/musical Spike Milligan's Adolf Hitler: My Part In His Downfall at Bristol's Old Vic. It has fantastic raw material to work with - all the dialogue is taken from Spike Milligan's war time memoirs, the sequence of books condensed into one play. Add to that music taken from the classics of the time and you have a potent mix. On the first night though it didn't quite come off. Although the inventive set, with a few basic items repeatedly reused in different ways, gave a sense of energy and eccentricity ...
As many will know this blog loves its polls that's because I like to get the readers opinion and here is yet another poll but this one has a serious question and I hope all readers will contribute. Again the result for this will give me good feedback that I need so get voting in the poll! Should I change the name of this blog to "Liberal Monkey"?(surveys)
The Poll that I ran on this blog asking readers if they think Michael Martin should get a peerage is now closed and the results are as followed: Yes 44% No 56% Clearly the view of the readers is the same as my view which is that Martin shouldn't be allowed anywhere near Parliament and he should be told to go home and do something else with life, maybe run for Council and leave Westminster to heal itself after the Commons has spend years with the man as Speaker. Clearly Labour know how to treat their friends properly don't they? ...
I still haven't got my post-election blogging groove back. In the meantime, here are this week's news referencing Henry George out there in the internets. First, "The Silent Consensus" has a piece on the Daily Kos. He begins by quoting Thomas Paine: "Men did not make the earth. It is the value of the improvements [...]
One hundred and eight recommendations, an end to taxpayers paying mortgage interest for Assembly Members, a bar on claiming for furniture and fittings on second homes, the abolition of the overnight allowance, receipts to be provided for every claim, no employment of AMs' family members in future and a statutory independent body to determine pay and allowances in the future. These are just some of the recommendations of the Sir Roger Jones report into Assembly Members pay and allowances. Others include better training for AMs and staff, cuts in the resettlement grant and more environmentally friendly mileage rates. It is ...
I was asked to Google "What Shall I do?" and the first page that came up was about taking a gap year and I think I might just do that. What do you think of this idea- I travel the world blogging, vlogging and picture taking but in return blog readers/sponsors fund the travels? I can hear a pin drop in here that's how quiet its gone on the mention of the word "fund" clearly my blog readers aren't people who will give me a cash present for running this blog or will you? Shall I get my bags packed? ...
It's difficult sometimes to remember that just because a news story is not on the front page any more the crisis hasn't gone away for the people concerned. Whilst I can sympathise with Michael Jackson's family over his death I hope we have not forgotten the people of Iran, living under a vicious regime.
The Conservatives support websites like Google Health that allow people to store health details on a database online and I agree with them that it should become something that people should be asked to do. A patients health record should be in their control and they should be able to have it with them where ever they are and its especially good if its stored online. I like the idea, the Lib Dems don't for some reason and sorry for this rant but someone at Cowley St has asked for it. Clearly technology is growing so why shouldn't people use ...
Sarah Palin resigned without telling the media what she was going on to do and now she says she will sue bloggers for writing. Why? Its clear that if Palin would have told the world what she was going to go onto do e.g. run for President, leave politics or what ever people wouldn't start rumours. Clearly team Palin need to learn how to handle the media and the blogosphere the proper way. Maybe a guide will help?
I have just been watching Sky News and have seen Tory Bear for the first time on TV and personally I think he needs a lot more PR training. If I had to rate his performance he would get a 5/10 from me. And Mr Bear before I finish who said FireFox is for geeks? Fair enough I am a geek but FireFox is not for geeks many people who don't have the slightest idea about technology prefer FireFox so its not for geeks!
John Scheerhout and Jemma Becker July 03, 2009 FEWER than half of BBC middle managers invited to move to Salford as part of the corporation's 'big move north' have agreed to do so. An estimated 1,400 staff posts are due to relocate from London to the MediaCity:UK site, along with about 800 jobs at the BBC's current [...]
I have now switched anonymous comments back on but have added comment moderation. I am fairly Liberal about comments and will allow most things. I accept criticism but if its worded to a standard that I accept. Simply writing "di**" isn't going to get published and trust me one person has already attempted to do this.
Mon 6th
18:44
Rob has got Posterous automatically cross posting emails to Facebook, blog and Twitter. :)
Posted via email from Rob's posterous
Internet firm Ebay are sending out an email, which I reproduce below, to its registered users, calling on people to sign a petition to support liberal trade and prevent luxury brand manufacturers restricting free trade in their product. {ebay petition} It is an obvious example of the importance of European Union law. It also reminds us how EU jurisdiction in trade law is logical. It is far better for consumers and companies in the 27 states to know that a common set of (economically liberal) laws apply across Europe than have the complication of different laws if they use Ebay ...
Mon 6th
18:24
Are we winning the war on drugs? sorry to say after what i witnessed on Friday the answer is no.
ELEVEN people have been charged following drugs raids in Salford. Fifteen addresses were raided at dawn in Eccles, Winton, and Manchester. Operation Merton followed months of undercover work by officers targeting drug dealers supplying Salford and Manchester. The following have been charged with supplying class A drugs and were remanded in custody to appear at Salford Magistrates' [...]
It has taken my while but here is my first post about Big Brother 2009. I admit although it is awful television I am getting in to it and do enjoy it.
Almost 1,000 criminals, including 19 murderers, who should have been returned to prison after breaching their licence conditions, are still at large, the Government has disclosed. By Tom Whitehead, Home Affairs Editor Published: 1:44PM BST 06 Jul 2009 The criminals also include 80 other violent offenders, 12 rapists or attempted rapists and 72 robbers. Some of [...]
Over at the Indpendent, Lib Dem peer Lord (Antony) Lester argues that citizens are entitled to know if their conduct is criminal. Here's an excerpt: The Suicide Act 1961 changed the law so that suicide is no longer a crime, but it remains a crime to encourage or assist suicide, and the current state of the law is not as certain as criminal law should be. Criminal liability depends on the way a particular Director of Public Prosecutions decides what is in the public interest. Like many others, I believe that we need a legal framework which would allow doctors ...
Get the email on Wednesday to tell me the issue is being raised, ring up to update the residents and the works been done all ready. Thats what i call efficient.
Mon 6th
17:53Quick thank you to environmental and parking services for offering to attend a residents meeting.
Well done and thanks for both services coming out to listen to residents concerns. Community working can't beat it...
But fairs fair. I got the call yesterday and environmental are dealing with it.
<!–Last Updated – 1st July 2009 at 02:31 PM –> Residents in Salford are to see improvements to the collection of pink lidded bins from Monday (6 July), which may affect the days the bins are emptied. Salford City Council will now collect garden waste fortnightly either on a Monday, as before, or on a [...]
This week's headline figures:494 absolute unique visitors (down slightly)1593 visits (up 100)Busiest day: MondayReaders' favourite browser: Firefox, 52.54% (up a tiny bit) ( more Google Analytics statporn under here ) Exciting stats not from Google Analytics:# of unread emails: 17# of websites requiring work: 5# of blog posts I am committed to write that I haven't written yet: 10# of logos/headers to design: 2 (still one for Sarah at Same Difference, and one for next month's sponsor)# of Dreamwidth Invite Codes Available for handing out: 2# of people added to reading list this week: 3# of people removed from reading ...
It seems like ages since the British Grand Prix at Silverstone two weeks ago. These long Summer breaks are a pain. The season got off to an intense start with four races in the first six weeks so even the normal two week break between events seems too much to bear, especially when it's been such an exciting year so far. But never fear, the teams and drivers are packing up to head for the Nurburgring, in between Cologne and Frankfurt in Germany this weekend. Hat tip to Kevin for highlighting the new video on the track's website showing off ...
Mon 6th
17:10
Protection of property and clear transport routes need to be top flooding priority - campbell
{campbell-ne-fife-flooding1} Commenting on today's spate of flooding which has caused major disruption in North East Fife, local MP Sir Menzies Campbell and MSP Iain Smith have called for the protection of people's properties and ensuring clear transport routes to be top priority during instances of flooding. Sir Menzies said: "This latest flooding was both sudden and severe and is a reminder that we are at the mercy of the elements. However, there is much that can be done to alleviate the effects of such spates and more must be done to ensure that the water has somewhere to go other ...
Essential roadworks will be carried out affecting Westerleigh Road from the Rodford Way roundabout to the junction with St Briavels Drive. they will be planing off the existing surface of the carriageway, followed by resurfacing. The traffic will be controlled by temporary traffic lights. Access to properties fronting the site will be available at all times and every effort will be made to keep the disruption to local residents to a minimum. The work will start at approximately 8am each morning and continue until about 5pm. Please note that adverse weather conditions or plant / delivery problems may affect these ...
And here's to the Summer! We'll be holding our Annual General Meeting in exactly 3 weeks (in accordance to Liberal Youth regulations)..which is the 21st of July 2009 (Tuesday). Once again, the technical stuff: Eligibility to vote is restricted to: Members of the Liberal Democrats under the age of 26 living within the London Postcode Region Members of London Liberal Youth and the University Societies within Greater London including the LSE Liberal Democrats, KCL Liberal Democrats, QMUL Liberal Democrats, Kingston University Liberal Youth. Members of our affiliate, the University College Liberal Club at University College London We will be electing ...
News has hit my inbox informing me that if you are a twitter user and don't CLICK HERE as soon as possible your twitter account might get shut down.
Fed up with politics as usual? No, not a Sarah Palin reference, but an opportunity to support Vote for a Change, a coalition of campaign groups calling for a change in the way we elect our politicians. They say Did you know that not one MP was elected by a majority of their constituents? How can [...]
It's in. The Jones review into AMs' pay and expenses has reported back! It will require some in-depth studying, but the headline things seem to be an end to mortgage payments for second homes, more reciepts and an end to the link with Westminster salaries. The BBC provide some analysis here . Meanwhile, Kirsty Williams has welcomed the report and promised to accept its reccomendations. More below: Kirsty Williams, leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats has announced that her group will accept the recommendations of the Jones Review, announced today. The leader of the Welsh Lib Dems even announced before ...
With Swine Flu becoming a massive problem and the media covering it like hot cakes, Guido blogging about how government offices now have people working in them that might have swine flu I think its time MP's agreed with Jo Swinson and stayed in Parliament and put taking a Summer Recess on the back burned. I know MP's and Lords will be thinking what is this kid saying "doesn't he not get enough politics in the year for him to want us to work over Summer" but the problem is its not about me and my childish thoughts its about ...
The Telegraph and the Fail, amongst others, have reported on the dismissal of a relatively junior civil servant, Lisa Greenwood for posting an anonymous comment slagging Hazel Blears for her flipping of homes on one of the They Work for You websites from her work e-mail address. Let's lay aside for a moment that the punishment appears excessive. I'm particularly interested in the "They Work for You" angle to this. They have been widely quoted as the website where Lisa Greenwood is supposed to have made her comment, but a quick glance at their Twitter feed shows that they are ...
LibDem Treasury spokesman dropped by the University of Hertfordshire at the end of last week and gave a master class in political economy. He was there at the invitation of Welwyn Hatfield Chamber of Commerce and Welwyn Hatfield LibDems, whose parliamentary candidate Paul Zukowskyj teaches at the university. In effect what we heard was a brief summary of Vince's acclaimed book "The Storm". There can be very few politicians who could give such an authoritative scan of the current economic horizon. Vince was perfectly modest about his own business background (chief economist of Shell International), and talked about the problems ...
BT abandons Phorm Phorm shares fall as BT opts out One more battle won, the end of the war draws nearer...
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 ...
The first full working week of the Swedish EU presidency starts today, with an informal meeting of health ministers from the 27 member states and a visit to Stockholm by the leaders of the different political groups in the European Parliament, the outgoing President of the Parliament, Hans-Gert Potttering and 40 other Euro-parliamentary representatives. The [...]
I've asked Environmental Services to clear up the fly-tipped rubbish at the top of Dorchester Road. Fly-tipping seems to be on the increase in the part of the ward that I live in - I hope that the culprits can be identified and action taken against them. Some residents seem to just put any old [...]
I've just seen this beautifully written article on the Palin resignation from Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: Sarah Palin showed on Friday that in one respect at least, she is qualified to be president. Caribou Barbie is one nutty puppy. Usually we don't find that exquisite battiness in our leaders until they've been battered by sordid scandals like Watergate (Nixon), gnawing problems like Vietnam (L.B.J.), or scary threats like biological terrorism (Cheney). When Lyndon Johnson was president, some of his staff began to think of him as "a sick man," as Bill Moyers told Arthur Schlesinger Jr. Moyers ...
My blog has jumped another 28 places in the June Wikio rankings to supposedly be the 27th most influential political blog in the country (31st most influential across all blogs) according to them. As is becoming traditional, Charlotte Gore has derived a top 10 Lib Dem blogs from this list here. According to this I am now in position 3! I am pleased to be doing well at the moment but the idea that I am the 3rd most influential political blogger in the Lib Dems is bordering on the surreal! I have only been seriously blogging for about 8 ...
This week I will be joined by Victor Mizzi, Linda Walker and Brian Bennett at a meeting with Home Office Minister, Phil Woolas, and Foreign Office Minister, Ivan Lewis, to seek to persuade them to waive the fees for Visas for Chernobyl children from the Ukraine.For years the Chernobyl charities have been focussed on Belarus as it was comparatively simple to operate there as opposed to Ukraine.However, Victor and his colleagues discovered Ukraine again after the difficulties with presidential decree forbidding travel from Belarus for much of the last year.But the Government here refuse to waive the visa charges for ...
{football and cash} A major disadvantage in being a convinced free marketeer and an impassioned supporter of Southampton Football Club is that I get precious little sympathy when I whinge on about how my beloved Saints can't compete fairly against the big teams because of the wealth gap. Grumbling football fans of chronically underperforming teams are a pretty sorry sight in the best of circumstances. But when you're also characterised as a supporter of "the weak should go the wall" approach to business, you elicit even less sympathy than normal. Nevertheless, the news that stinking rich Chelsea have received a ...
The former Chairman of the Conservative Party, last governor of Hong Kong and Chancellor of Oxford University, Chris Patten, has said the Conservative Party is generally "ignorant" when it come to Europe. He made to remarks in a Q & A to the Independent in which his answers to other questions were noticeably diplomatic. Here is what he said: Why [...]
If you are a blogger who criticises the government or the organisation you work for then the best piece of advice that I can give you is not to blog from work. A civil servant has been sacked for leaving a comment anonymously from work. This comes from a blog post from Iain Dale, the civil servant left a comment on "some website" attacking Hazel Blears. I think this civil servant has got sacked due to a mistake made by herself. This is what you call shooting yourself in the foot. If the civil servant was to leave a comment ...
As I pointed out before about the concept of taking pictures of the world that I liked I have now set up an album that I shall update with images of the world that I see around me. If you would like to see any of the pictures or just laugh at my amature photography skills then follow the link to the album.
Waiting for Mat to eat his breakfast, so I might as well give you some...Fresh Squeezings from the veins of the internet!Today is National Kissing Day The Grauniad has an incredibly high-brow article to celebrate. Ben Goldacre the Feminist. Srsly, you'd think they'd have learnt by now, wouldn't you? Don't cock up your science journalism, for Ben is watching. Back Towards the Locus examines Control Orders and finds them wanting. Some might find this post triggery. Interesting geeky link #1 Manic Time records everything you do on your computer and spews it back to you in graph form. Want to ...
I thought I had had a pretty rough weekend and was in need of some sympathy. Then I backread my friends list. Muggings, broken bones, poorly cats, doom, gloom and horror... Note to self: there's always someone worse off than you. Note to f-list: anything I can do, I will (obviously if it involves money we have a problem, but if you need an ear, or advice, or Mat to bake you cookies...). This blog is proudly sponsored by
First, Christopher Hitchens on Gordon Brown for the readers of Vanity Fair. On the McBride affair:But what shocked me much more was how unshocked the Labour Party was. "Put it like this," said a stalwart old comrade of mine. "The Tories and the press are only now finding out how Brown has been bullying and threatening his own colleagues." Fat Boy McBride, of course, was given the heave-ho as soon as his picknose activity was unmasked, and it was claimed, as is customary, that he had acted alone and without permission from his boss. I have asked around a good ...
Inspired by Journalism Grads: 30 Things You Should Do This Summer post (pointed out to me by Lib Dem Voice's Stephen Tall), here's my list of 30 things anyone wanting to become an elected public official should do over the summer. Thanks to everyone who responded to my Twitter, Facebook and email messages asking for suggestions for inclusion in the list. Whether your idea(s) made it in or didn't quite make the cut, the final 30 are the better for all that feedback. Parts II and III follow on Tuesday and Wednesday. Look up a piece of legislation, read it ...
Back in the day, when I was a student, I never really got on with textbooks. Most were just too painful to drag through, so I got pretty good at reading pretty much the minimum I needed for whatever essay I was working on (we all had to write our essays in Latin in those days, which probably didn't help). I suspected I was pretty dumb for not enjoying reading these classics from cover to cover. Perhaps I was...am. But a sneaking suspicion started to grow that it might not be wholly my failing. Take the philosopher Kant. Picking a ...
I've blogged before about the Guardian being unfair about the Cally. Now the Independent has done the same. I usually like reading the Independent, not just because it gives the Lib Dems a fairer hearing than most, but because it tends generally to have a sensible, humane, small l liberal approach. Columnists like Deborah Orr give [...]
Ireland's quest to grace the red carpet at the Silly Law of the Year 2009 Awards gathers pace. Last Wednesday, the Parliamentary Justice Committee passed it by 3 votes and it now goes to the Dail this week where a final vote will be held. Already there are plans to challenge the law if it is passed. If you are an Irish citizen, and you are horrified by the fact that your freedom of speech could be threatened to the extent where uttering anything offensive to the followers of any religion could cost you 25,000 euros (reduced from 100,000, a ...
It is not easy to find a crowd in a country as small as Estonia. The population of the whole country is only 1.4 million and there is the general solitariness of the Estonian character to be taken into account. Yet, every five years the whole country gathers together with a common purpose: to sing. The Song festivals of the Baltic countries are an astonishing spectacle. Not only do people gather together on an epic scale, but the singing that emerges from choirs of twenty or thirty thousand people is glorious, with subtle harmonies and counterpoint. These performances of beloved ...
A project on the Internet called the 4am Project has recently caught my attention. Its a project in which people do a bit of citizen journalism and get up at 4am to take pictures of the world and upload them onto the website so a picture of the world at 4am can be created. The minute I read about the idea I was amazed and really liked it but the problem is I am not going to get up at 4am in the morning to take photos of the world. But because I like the idea so much I might ...
2 Big Stories Public sector workers to feel the pinch From the Guardian, Alistair Darling isn't ruling out pay freezes for six million public sector workers: "Public sector pay has obviously got to reflect prevailing conditions and in particular inflation has come way down." Serious Fraud Office to investigate collapse of car maker MG Rover From the Daily Mail: The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has been asked to investigate the collapse of MG Rover after a four-year probe into the Midlands car maker's demise, it was confirmed today. Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said in a written statement to Parliament that ...
Iain Dale has an excellent story of how a Conservative County Council, West Sussex is wasting £80,000 on taxis for a boy to go to school because he lives just 350 yards the wrong side of an arbitrary line. Shameful. Posted in Uncategorized
Anthony Gormley's 'one & other' gets underway in Trafalgar Square today. Check out live feed from participants here
After the stunning success of his guide to the economic crisis – The Storm has been a top 10 bestseller since its release – Vince Cable's autobiography is set to be published this autumn. And if you believe the Hickey column in the Express (and who wouldn't?) the tome now has a title: The Free Radical. Nothing on Amazon yet, but we'll keep you posted. By the way, if you haven't read The Storm yet, it's available now for just £6.74 with free P&P: click this link, and you'll even earn the Lib Dems a little commission.
Here's a conundrum for a Lib Dem Voice editor. On the one hand, we do our best to cover all the news stories relating to the Lib Dems; on the other, we do our best to remain free of tittle-tattle, and to promote the liberal idea that people's private lives should be just that. So what to do when Lib Dem MP Lembit Opik's love life once again finds its way into the papers? Should LDV mention that he is, allegedly, beginning to date British model Katie Green? Or should we ignore the story as beneath our gaze? Over to ...
I have always had a fondness for cricket. As someone once said, the English created the Industrial Revolution, which enabled things to be made more quickly, more cheaply and more efficiently than ever before. At the same time, they invented cricket, a way of spending five days doing absolutely nothing. The county I remain loyal to is Sussex, where my mother was brought up, and they remained true to my tradition of following lovable losers, teams that never quite make it. Until recently, that is, when they won their first Championship after 154 years of striving and not succeeding. Even ...
Mon 6th
10:00
CommentIsLinked@LDV: Alex Carlile - Why it would be cruel not to put Gary McKinnon on trial in Brita...
Over at the Daily Mail, Lib Dem peer Lord (Alex) Carlile, the independent reviewer of British anti-terrorist laws, takes up the case of Asperger's sufferer Gary McKinnon, who is under threat of potentially health-threatening extradition to the USA after he hacked his way methodically into protected documents. Lord Carlile argues he should be tried in the British courts: Gary McKinnon is immature, vulnerable and sadly without insight into the effect he sometimes has on others. He suffers from a severe form of Asperger's Syndrome. He is obsessive and can be difficult. He hates any changes of routine. Medical evidence shows ...
We arrived at Harwich at 8am today and we are now on the coach heading to Victoria. A very pleasant holiday and we are thinking of returning to Iceland to see the country in more detail. The trouble with doing a cruise is the rather fleeting glimpses gained of places visited. Iceland has too much interesting geology and history to do on three one day visits. We need much longer there. Whilst I
I kid you not. A friend of the owner saw the cat, Tango, on the screen when the programme was broadcast (see picture) last week and rang up the owner to report it. It happened in the wonderful county of Cornwall, of course.
Over at The Independent, Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable argues that progressive taxation will not, of itself, neutralise the problem, which has to be dealt with at source. Here's an excerpt: I am not surprised to discover that leading accountants are advising high earners in the City how to reduce the tax they pay on their bonuses. That is what tax accountants do. And that is what bankers do. Neither profession is affiliated to the Boy Scouts. It is the Government which needs to explain why tax revenue is disappearing. One major reason is that the 50 per cent ...
The council have finally shown their utter contempt for the democratic process in a series of decisions, spearheaded by Cllr. John Warmisham who heads education, on the relocation of the Youth Offending Service to a site in Irwell Riverside. When the decision was originally taken it was 'called in' - a process which means the decision [...]
Language is of course all important in politics. Small nuances can indicate shifts in position or major disagreements. How an initiative is phrased can determine its success or failure. What are we to make therefore of Peter Hain's latest pronouncement on public spending? Mr. Hain has moved the Labour Government rhetoric about 'investment not cuts' to a more realistic 'public spending will have to be restrained' mantra. I think we can comfortably take this to mean that he anticipates cuts. Peter Hain is no fool. He knows that no politician can afford to ignore realities especially when the public have ...
It was excellent to see David Cameron doing a complete volte face within 10 seconds on Today. Firstly he said that Quangoes should be stringently reviewed, cut down, abolished etc. Then, when challenged to say whether he would freeze public sector pay, he generously sang the praises of independent pay review boards who are....ahem....quangoes.
The Wikio blog rankings are out for July and I've been going through them looking for Scottish political blogs and have been really surprised that I could only find seven in the top hundred. The Wikio rankings aren't based on visitors to your site, but on the number of other bloggers who link to you. This is supposed to be a measure of how influential you are as a blogger. I think the easiest way for me to view this is complete narcissism - in months when I go up, it will be a very accurate measure, and when I ...
Really busy day today starting with a meeting of the Assembly Commission to receive and consider Sir Roger Jones' report on Assembly Members' Allowances. It is rumoured that there will be over a hundred recommendations. The report will be made public after 2.30pm. Following that I have a College Council meeting in Swansea and then a PACT meeting. I suspect I will not be at a keyboard again until this evening.
Would you pass the citizenship test? I didn't. I was prompted to try it by Sandra Gidley MP (who passed – cleverclogs!) and the journalist Maggie Philbin, who have been highlighting the absurdity of the citizenship test on Twitter. I'm British-born and raised; got a degree from a good UK university; I'm a school governor [...]
New EU legislation came into effect on 1st July capping mobile phone roaming charges inside the EU. The new tariffs include the following maximum costs (network operators may offer lower charges): Some of the prices are reductions of up to 60%, but the commission plans to enforce further cuts over the coming years and will be measuring the impact of the changes. The...
Many of this blogs local readers will have been concerned to learn that Pat Sumner went into hospital for planned knee surgery. We are pleased to report that Pat is back home and making excellent progress. She speaks very highly of the staff at Ormskirk hospital and the care she received. She has a period now when she needs to learn to walk again but as we all know when Pat sets her mind to something it will be done. David Sumner is also winning rave reviews as a carer! 'Best wishes Pat and we all look forward to seeing ...
Being looked after by Mr Eugenides.
So this is the 41st most influential blog in the land. Yeah, right. Nice as it seems, the whole Wikio thing has a growing air of unreality about it. Still, gift horses, mouths and all that, so congratulations and well done to Charlotte and Mark who have shot up the rankings and to everyone else who's gone up a lot or down just a bit.
Intrigued to read a recent edition of the leading specialist publication "Professional Pensions". According to a survey by KPMG the reputation of personal finance advisers - those sales guys, usually on commission, who give face-to-face advice about investment - has been heavily damaged by the financial crisis. Not suprising. But the survey found that they were now seen as less trustworthy than politicians !
There is an article in this week's Independent on Sunday which focuses on potential spending cuts and discusses what the Tories and Labour might do. Here is the section on Defence: DEFENCE Trident has emerged as an obvious candidate for Labour cuts in the present circumstances, but downgrading the nuclear deterrent before an election is politically unpalatable. More likely is an attempt to shave the £76bn bill through amendments to the number and design of submarines, reducing the £4bn-plus aircraft carriers programme and freezing the order for 88 Eurofighters. The Tories have committed themselves to Trident, and have assured the ...
One of the news stories of last week was the collapse of Harrow Council's attempt to prosecute a mother - Mrinal Patel - for fraud because she lied about her address in order to get her child a place at a particular secondary school. Following that case, BBC News reported: Schools Secretary Ed Balls has asked for a report on the problem of parents cheating to get school places.England's Schools Adjudicator will look at the scale of the problem and whether there are enough powers to tackle cheats - and if they are being used.This is tackling the symptom rather ...
There is a revolution going on in Iran, and it is coming from the largest group of clerics. Ayatolleh Khamenei has already declared that the re-election of President Ahmadinejad last month was legal and legitimate and made clear he would not tolerate any more challenges to that 'victory'. However, the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qom, the largest grouping of clerics in the country have issued a statement to the contrary. The fact that it is such a sizable group of the clerics that has spoken out is a blow to the Spiritual leader of the country. In a ...
I have expressed concern about changes to Dundee bus services operated by Stagecoach Strathtay that came into force today and also regarding forthcoming changes to other bus services operated by National Express Dundee (Travel Dundee). I have been in correspondence with Stagecoach Strathtay regarding today's service changes, particularly the withdrawal of the 74 service, which I feel is detrimental to many West End residents. The 74 service was a highly useful link for many constituents, particular those in the Tullideph/Pentland, City Road, Scott Street, Milnbank Road, Brook Street corridor, providing a link for residents to Ninewells Hospital, the City Centre ...
New Wikio Blog Rankings are out. Wikio doesn't measure how many visitors a website has - it measures the number of reactions they get from the rest of the blogosphere. It's odd being marked as 'more influential' than the BBC's Nick Robinson, but that simply suggests that excluding readership gives very strange results indeed. It's becoming sort of traditional for me to extract the Lib Dem blogs from their list to see how well we're doing in 'reaching out.' As a side note, we'll have to see if Nick Clegg's piece in Labour List is a good example of "reaching ...
