Just been watching BBC Question Time, and see that Sarah Teather is very articulate about the liberties of suspected terrorists but a complete authoritarian killjoy when it comes to my freedom to enjoy a glass of wine at home. Why are so many Liberal Democrats passionate about the rights of terrorists, criminals and asylum seekers but complete f***wits when it comes to the rights of the majority of us to make our own choices about the way we lead our lives? On the issue of whether we can enjoy an alcoholic drink, Andy Burnham, the Health Secretary, was the most ...
{sarah-brown-blog} Gordon Brown has proved himself conclusively to be a charmless arrogant man, psychologically flawed, with all the "social skills of a whelk". So what to do with such a catastrophic image problem just ten months out from a general election? {sarah-brown-michelle-obama} Enter Mrs Brown stage left. Today, at the G8 summit, she was seen out and about with Michele Obama, yesterday it was a turn with the pope. Earlier this week it was reported that she has guest edited an upcoming special edition of the News of the World's Sunday magazine "Fabulous" (on women's health). Last week she was ...
Did you know that asylum seekers have to sign on at a police station every couple of weeks ? and that those living in Middlesbrough have to get to Stockton to do so, not being allowed by the Border Agency to sign on at Middlesbrough Police Station. So we have people with little money (less than income support) having to either pay around £4.00 for bus fares or walk. Those who get vouchers and no...
A quick question for anyone who is reading this do all A Listers have Tory front bench MP's on speed dial and do 4/5 top Tory MP's go to the same constituency in one election season? If someone wants to anonymously leave a comment please do and if its anonymous or information then I will not publish it and use it for my research that I am doing.
Prince Edward has agreed to be patron of the International Youth Arts Festival. Yesterday he came to the Rose to see a terrific performance of Pendragon. Prince Edward chats with Frank Whately (writer and director) and Deputy Mayor, Cllr Shiraz Mirza. Joined by Robin Hutchinson, Chair of the Festival.
A packed 12 hour day ending up with the Council meeting. All our group there spoke up asking questions - we are there to challenge! I was disappointed in the planning committee only asking for "at least 10% of energy to be from renewable or low energy sources" for the prestigious large North Shore Development next to the river. I knew Maureen, who is on the planning committee spoke up at the...
Question Time this week is the Schools Special – and that brings with it two innovations. Firstly there's the option to watch it live at 8pm on BBC3 – hence the much earlier appearance of this post than usual; and secondly one of the panellists will be a young person to be announced on the night. There will also be the following not-quite-so-young people joining in the debate: Andy Burnham MP, Jeremy Hunt MP, Sarah Teather MP, and Shami Chakrabarti. As last week, we hope to have a magic Facebook window appearing here: If you're tuning in, you can join ...
Down towards Junction 3 of the M32 is some fantastic public art. In the trees outside St Werburgh's community centre are two bulbous white eyes. No I'm not tripping! I have seen them for a couple of weeks now so am satisfied they actually are eyes in the trees. I have no idea who put them there. But it does make me giggle. Is it even art? Or a statement about traffic. Is there CCTV in the eyeballs? Who knows. I think we need more sculpture, art and visual display in urban settings. There is fine architecture in Bristol but ...
Oh. My. God. That was just... Yeah. I wonder what Rusty's big reset button is going to be this time? Shall we have wild speculation?
...is the title of a blog post that I have done as a guest post today for the "Scrap Early Day Motions" website and the editor (Jonathan Sheppard of Tory Radio) has kindly published to give an alternative viewpoint to the campaign he started recently.
Labour white wash? Conservative Gains, independent alliance and libs sneaking from behind. Hard to say this year and with me not being a betting man it's hard to call. I think there will be a lot of dirt being flung around, and before you say anything yes i have got my share filed and ready [...]
It's BBC Question Time day again - schools edition special where the audience is made up of school children and the Live Chat on this blog will start at 10:30pm. I am aware that tonight's edition in addition to being broadcast in its usual slot on BBC1 at 10:35, will also be broadcast live on BBC3 at 8:00pm (presumably because it is the schools edition) but I am not around this evening at that point so I can only cover the usual BBC1 broadcast from 10:30pm. The panel will include Secretary of State for Health Andy Burnham, the Conservative shadow ...
Plenty of coverage across the broadcast media and blogs today about the scandal engulfing Rupert Murdoch's News Media Group following today's Guardian expose of their illegal activities. Plenty of coverage, too, of David Cameron's top aide Andy Coulson, who edited the News of the World at the time it was hacking into phone lines. Here's a handful of the posts I've spotted today on Lib Dem blogs: What Do To About the Screws? (Alex Wilcock) The Guardian has today broken a story that's actually shocking. When there's corruption in politics or journalism, it's easy to affect being shocked, when actually ...
Pleased with the gesture and it as been welcomed from many residents in the area.
Sink immigrants' boats – Griffin Nick Griffin:"Frankly they need to sink several of those boats" The EU should sink boats carrying illegal immigrants to prevent them entering Europe, British National Party leader Nick Griffin has told the BBC. The MEP for the North-West of England said the EU had to get "very tough" with migrants from [...]
Remember last week how I talked about the Bat-titles being like an explanation of what a 'good comic' and a 'bad comic' are? This one's a Good Comic, and much like the Bat-titles the quality rests almost entirely on the art DC Comics have, for the last few years, been publishing weekly comics stories pretty much [...]
Here's my latest column from the Ham & High: I had two interns a while back whose surnames were Hussein and Patel. They were bright as buttons and went on to get very good jobs - one at the Ministry of Defence and the other in public relations. Prior to coming to my office they told me that they had applied for hundreds of jobs but not even got through to the interview stage. Now much as I'd like to hope that my interns get valuable experience - after all, that is the point - it was a striking change ...
This week's Newsweek is reporting China's reaction to President Obama's recent economic measures. Melinda Lui states : "A 'buy American' clause in the $787 billion stimulus package" was cited as "dangerous protectionism" by critics and resulted in China's recent decision to "stick a 'buy Chinese' clause in it's own $586 billion stimulus package" which has prompted both the US and the EU to complain to the World Trade Organisation. Furthermore Chinese export taxes on raw material can be up to 70%. Unluckily "China never signed the WTO agreement banning discrimination against foreign suppliers." This silly and immature trade tit-for-tat threatens ...
Chris Huhne has responded in lightning quick time to Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissionaire John Yates' statement ruling out any further police investigation of the Guardian's claims that the News of the World engaged in serious criminal activities while being edited by Andy Coulson, now David Cameron's top aide. Earlier today, Chris wrote to Met Chief Sir Paul Stephenson pointing out his force's conflict of interest in the matter, given the allegations relate to possible failings by the police, and urging an independent investigation. Mr Yates' over-hasty statement serves only to emphasise Chris's orginal point: John Yates's statement leaves open as ...
So Tory Bear has nicked some pictures and is making out that they have been sent to him and has made the following comments about Lib Dem leaflets which really have got me wound up. Anyone who has even gazed half an eye over any Lib Dem election literature will recognise the usual lies and bullshit that they push on the doorstep. Looks like the record isn't going to change anytime soon.Right Mr Bear: First of all you need to meet your fellow Conservatives in Pendle, in a seat they had no chance of winning they used to push leaflet ...
Wednesday 8th July 2009 10p – The end of the line for Labour too? The Government threatened what it liked to call the rebels that voting against them was a nuclear option. The thumbscrews were applied. If the new clause blocking the Budget was passed Armageddon would begin. From 18:00 that evening the Government would not have been able [...]
Five weeks ago the Tories were campaigning across Norfolk promising to "fight Environment Agency plans to shut down the flood sirens", yet just a few short weeks later the Tories have broken their manifesto pledge and are unilaterally going to remove flood sirens along the Norfolk coast. What is more. as can be seen from this extract from one of the Tory Euro election leaflets, they cynically used the threat of flooding in North Norfolk in order to attract votes in Norfolk whilst seeking to blame cuts on the EU. As we now know, it is Norfolk County Council, run ...
Well i think i will fight my own battles unless the Mrs fancies coming with me, she as to be the best fighter in my corner, and i can trust her..
I've often wondered about the faces of reaction that met ideas for insurance (it particularly seems to be insurance, for some reason) adverts when first broached at meetings. Just think... "Let's have one of those old fashioned phones - not a new one - an old fashioned one, coloured red, with wheels on it, jumping up over a hill towards the camera playing the tune 'Dum de dum, de dum, de dum, de dah' " or... "Let's have a Meerkat in a red silk dressing gown pretending to be a web site owner for 'Comparethemeerkat.com' complaining that people keep on ...
Thu 9th
19:54
Funny thing about three years ago i met Ian stuart great bloke, how do a party dump him for a women ...
Judgement? i think they must of all been out on a bender the night before. And these are the people who want your vote. Well a still see Mr Bell dropping in soon.
On page 2 of the Summer edition of the Town Council magazine, 'Keighley Capital of Airedale', there is an article about the Thwaites Brow Snicket saga and the successful community campaign I led to get the flagstones re-laid. It is good to see the TC making the most of the benefits a Town Councilor can give. But remember, you read the complete story here first!
cyn·i·cal play_w2("C0839900") (sn-kl) 1. Believing or showing the belief that people are motivated chiefly by base or selfish concerns; skeptical of the motives of others: a cynical dismissal of the politician's promise to reform the campaign finance system. 2. Selfishly or callously calculating: showed a cynical disregard for the safety of his troops in his efforts to advance [...]
I've been sent (by the Lib Dem team) the newest Lib Dem magazine style leaflet that is to hit the streets tomorrow. This leaflet would put the Lib Dems one ahead of the Tories with seven leaflets to the Tories six. Still, this is some way ahead of Labour (two) and UKIP (two - of which one arrived in the post today - more on this later). Still no Green leaflet delivered although I have seen it on the internet. Note - For the idiot who keeps sending me messages complaining that I favour the Lib Dems. Firstly, I am ...
End of an era Advertiser offices closing in Eccles today. Shame on the Scott Trust. I have real fears for the future of local journalism. about 4 hours ago So boats carrying illegal migrants should be sunk according to Nick Griffin MEP. What a disgusting man,showing BNP's true colours. about 10 hours ago Scrutiny in their wisdom [...]
July 09, 2009 A 21-YEAR-OLD man today became the second person to be shot dead in Greater Manchester in a week. Junaid Khan suffered serious wounds to his leg and groin after he was gunned down in the car park of a doctor's surgery in Chadderton, near Oldham, just after midnight. He was rushed to the [...]
TCPA seminar on 'what is the future now for regional planning and infrastructure?' Friday 18th September Regional and national planning faces turmoil and change. Some Regional Assemblies have now been abolished as Parliament establishes a new role for Regional Development Agencies supported by local authorities Leaders' Boards. These will work together to devise any new Regional [...]
It's good to see David Cameron sweating "relaxed" for a change today. I am utterly amazed that he thinks it's OK to try to deceive the public by saying, very narrowly, that Coulson wasn't in post when Gordon Taylor was paid off. Does Cameron think the public has a collective IQ of 30? Is Cameron, indeed, saying (bizarrely, in a round about way) that the Editor of the News of the World at the time of the pay-offs should be sacked even though Coulson was in charge when it happened?! I was very impressed by Chris Huhne's genuine anger shown ...
Local act The Streets has been added to the bill for the launch weekend of the new Birmingham Academy venue in September. Mike Skinner joins Editors, The Twang and Ocean Colour Scene to celebrate the launch of the new venue over the course of four days. The Academy is upping sticks from its Priory Square location to make way for major redevelopment. The old Dome II nightclub on Horsefair (Bristol Street) will become the Birmingham O2 Academy following a major £5m refurbishment. The main room has increased in size to 3,000 which should mean higher calibre acts can play the ...
Britain should either pour thousands more troops into Afghanistan or pull out, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg warned today. He backed the UK's military campaign against the Taliban but argued British troops are being put in the "worst of all worlds" by lack of equipment, including helicopters, and of a proper political strategy for the war. "You can't fight a war by...
When you post a picture to Facebook you are asked if you have to right to do so. However, that doesn't mean that just anybody can come an lift them. Tory Bear actually known as Harry Cole seems to take a different view and will happily lift stuff he finds on sites that demand the poster has the right to it, rename it and use it for his own purposes. Not even using the netiquette courtesy of a link back to the source. He proudly brandishes the following statement at the foot of his blog: For a start this is ...
Don't fall off your seat but Labour have started delievering a seond leaflet. This is the Mile Cross variant of it.
It doesn't quite make it as a Sunday video, but this is rather wonderful. A cover version of Traffic's Paper Sun by American all-female trio The Murmaids, complete with a video of Swinging London. There are a lot of other good videos to explore on the page too. For the Traffic version of Paper Sun, see earlier on this blog.
Between 25 July and 12 August 2009 the MAYOR OF BATH'S CORPS OF HONORARY GUIDES are offering to take you on a stroll away from the usual tourist routes to hear about the many characters that have lived in and influenced the City. The walks are aimed particularly at local people but everyone is welcome. They last for up to 2 hours and there really is no charge and no need to book...
There's been a lot of 'shock! horror!' at this morning's Guardian revelations by Nick Davies that 'Rupert Murdoch's News Group Newspapers has paid out more than £1m to settle legal cases that threatened to reveal evidence of his journalists' repeated involvement in the use of criminal methods to get stories.' The reaction is of course the right one. What I'm less convinced by is the supposed surprise of many in the media at the extent of the illegal activity undertaken by Mr Murdoch's papers. (And don't think for a moment the practise is restricted solely to the Murdoch empire). By ...
Photo by Sabine J Hutchinson http://www.virtual-shropshire.co.uk The Shropshire Star reports: Shropshire will create its own sporting stars this weekend when the county plays host to the 123rd Wenlock Olympian games. The games - which were founded by Dr William Penny Brookes in Much Wenlock in 1850 and are widely regarded as the forerunner to the modern Olympics - have attracted more than 1,250 entries from athletes from as far afield as Norway. This year also marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Penny Brookes who originally launched the games to "promote the moral, physical and intellectual improvement" of Much ...
Slightly later than yesterday, but my e-quill is rather overburdened... An answer to that ever-intiguing question, "How long is a Government commitment good for?", was gleaned by Lord Brooke of Stoke Mandeville in a question regarding the planned relocation to Birmingham of the Export Licensing Unit of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. In response, Lord Davies of Oldham confirmed that the decision was taken following an efficiency review, which came as a bit of a surprise to Lord Brooke, given the 2006 commitment to co-locate the Unit with the Council in London. He then want to claim that the ...
Responding to the decision of Bath & North East Somerset Council's Development Control Committee to defer the decision on the proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) route, and Newbridge park & ride extension, once again, Bath MP Don Foster has said that the scheme must surely now be dead. Don said, "If only the Conservative Council had listened to what I said at a Council meeting in...
A democratically elected politician arrested and charged for something he wrote on his blog. Surely it could only happen in a tinpot dictatorship? Not so. It happened on the "Crown Dependency" of Jersey today. Senator Stuart Syvret wrote on his blog yesterday afternoon: I have just learnt that I'm required at Police Headquarters at 5.00 pm this afternoon where I will be arrested and charged with supposed breaches of the Data Protection Law. I don't know if I'll receive unconditional bail - if not, they'll keep in the slammer overnight - if not longer.As it turned out, Stuart was released ...
{]Lib Dems by 35 Christchurch Road longstanding empty property} Me and my ward colleague Cllr Glenn Goodall with Katesgrove Lib Dem councillors Gareth Epps and Warren Swaine and a group of local residents campaigning to bring this private property on Christchurch Road (which has been empty for several years) back into use. A few weeks ago I wrote to Ian Austin MP, new Minister responsible for empty homes to find out what progress had been made on this issue nationally since the seminar I attended in April along with other empty homes campaigners. After I sent the letter I received a message from my friend and campaigner ...
Thu 9th
17:30
CommentIsLinked@LDV: Nick Clegg - Afghanistan: We're asking our troops to do the impossible
Over at the Daily Telegraph Nick Clegg argues is time for a new strategy and fresh commitment to Afghanistan. Here's an excerpt: As leader of the Liberal Democrats, I have been keen to maintain the cross-party consensus on Afghanistan that formed after September 11, and has not faltered since. But recent events have led me to question, for the first time, whether we're going about things in the right way. I am concerned that we are simply not giving our troops the means to do their difficult job. We must not will the ends without being prepared to will the ...
Just to catch up on life outside the Equality Bill Committee - I thought I would just run through a few of my activities this week so far. I had a long conversation (in lieu of a meeting) with Treehouse - our autistic school in Muswell Hill. They have withdrawn an application for an all-weather sports pitch because they need to work with concerned local residents to make sure that everyone is happy with any proposals. I did the World at One (radio) after Prime Minister's Questions. I was in the studio with the panel who were Lord Myners, Lord ...
Vaughan Roderick has details of a stormy meeting of the Assembly's Finance Committee today that, once it had slipped into private session became more and more confrontational. The source of the disagreement was the Economy and Transport Minister, Ieuan Wyn Jones and his famed reluctance to be scrutinised. The Finance Committee has been trying to get their hands on a document relating to the Minister's transport policy for some weeks now and for a time it looked as if they were going to get their way. The plan was that the document would be released this Monday 13th July so ...
{One of the antique streetlights in Stapleton Hall Road} Following lots of lobbying from Stroud Green Residents Association (SGRA) - with a bit of support from me - the Council have agreed to replace the streetlights on the section of Stapleton Hall Road between Quernmore and Oakfield. According to the email I have had from the Council 9 new lamp posts will be installed in September. This is because of complaints that the poor lighting on that section makes the road dangerous at night. Earlier this year a local woman was flashed by a man hiding in bushes on this ...
The brilliant Wordpress at work on Labour Home. Yet its meant to be the best blogging software? Clearly its the best for the comment section isn't it? Badly laid out comments and yet its a godly blogging platform?
I've just followed the example of Tom Harris and Subrosa and opted out of this new mobile phone directory that's being set up. I value my privacy, and I simply don't trust that my number won't get into the hands of people who want to sell me things I don't want to buy. I'm going to check it out when it goes live later this month, too, just to make sure that my request has been acted upon. It's not that I don't trust them, or anything, but.... Anyway, if you want to do the same, follow this link and ...
Nick Clegg is right when he says we are "trowing lives" away in Afghanistan because that is clearly what we are doing. I honour the men and women who have gone to the region to get rid of terrorism but clearly when one dies it hits every one hard and it brings back to question the important issue which is, is it worth it? Is the war in Afghanistan worth the number of dead soldiers in the region from our army? Clearly I think the best thing we as a county can do is pull out of Afghanistan and ask ...
I am going to write my question in this blog post for Nick Clegg and The Great Debate that he will be having via Routers. Do you believe that we should be allowed to sack our MP's if they aren't doing their job properly and what percentage of constituents needs to sign a petition calling on the MP to resign before they should go? That is my question for Nick Clegg lets see the answer I get that's if I get one. P.S. I shall give a prize to a question that I enjoy if you post it in the ...
So Nick Clegg has sent out an email saying that he is holding "The great Debate" with Routers and wants people to join him. I like the idea of the whole questions and answering via the Internet and to read LDV's blog post on the event follow the link. I shall be taking part and shall post my Questions here hopefully!
I am raging at the news that the BBC has replaced Arlene Phillips as a judge on Strictly Come Dancing with Alesha Dixon. Now I love Alesha, don't get me wrong, but her formal dance experience amounts to 12 weeks in the arms of the gorgeous and entirely lovable Matthew Cutler. How on earth did that give her credibility as a judge? Alesha is beautiful, sassy, a great singer and comes across very well and very naturally on camera. She danced a great quickstep with His Royal Vinceness on This Week as well. However, she cannot even hope to match ...
Could there be a bigger villain of the credit crunch than Joe Cassano? Michael Lewis is always entertaining, this Vanity Fair piece is well worth the trouble.While governments are struggling and Westminster is all fiscal gloom and fury, the real world gets on with innovating. So Google is taking on Microsoft. Great news - the FT certainly think so. I always like to remind people that while the 1990s really stank in terms of public sector investment, the private sector was inventing the Internet. One of my favourite columnists for 20 years, Hamish McRae is back from New York - ...
I have written before about 'baby a'. This child died in Sefton and I was uncomfortable with the way that the issue was dealt with. No formal protocol existed for reporting the outcome of Serious Incident Report and the informal process seemed to me to be inadequate. I believe that if we are to learn the lessons of such incidents then that has to be done in public. It keeps us honest. My colleague Richard Hands, chairs the Scrutiny and Review Committee and has been active in trying to improve the draft protocol that was presented to them. This is ...
As some may know I have been learning to ride a bike for some time now and severe nerves have meant I fluffed a few tests. Today I finally passed. Chuffed that I got through my Module 1 on Friday with no faults, I relaxed today and sailed through my Module 2 with 3 minor faults. The prospect of the summer on an open road beckons - or the weekend in the garage putting a Yamaha Virago 750 on the road if you're my other half! No more riding pillion. Bliss!
The government is currently consulting people on the planning laws relating to houses in multiple occupation (HMOs). The consultation follows last year's commission that reviewed the current position on HMOs. This review recommended that people should be consulted on possible new legislation on HMOs. This subject will be important to the many Liberal Democrat councillors and campaigners who are working in student areas, seaside towns and those populated by young people sharing houses. The review is suggesting three possible causes of action: Option 1 is to rely on existing 'good practice' from councils around the country. Option 2 is to ...
News from Nick Clegg of an exciting online event next Monday: On Monday we can change the way we do politics. Every week I travel around the country to meet people in their local town halls and listen to their views. Anyone can come along and ask me (just about) anything and in return I get a pretty good picture of how people across the UK feel about politics and how they are being affected by the recession. Next week I am going to do another of my public Q&A meetings, but this time it is going to be live ...
A email sent to Cowley Street by a PPC and Lib Dem candidate who lost in June 2009: Dear Cowley St and Campaigns Dept., Please do not employ apparatchiks to telephone me at home to tell me how well the Party did in the local elections only days after I and many of my colleagues lost our seats. I do not appreciate being told how the public decided to teach Gordon brown a lesson nor that a General Election is around the corner and we have never been in a better position. I no longer subscribe to that particular variety ...
At breakfast -desperate to sit by an open window, I found myself at a table with two Labour councillors. 'What time is he on?' one asked. 'not till 10.30' said the other. They were talking not of David Cameron nor of the Labour cabinet member both speaking today but of Vince Cable. At ten o'clock I made my way to the tearoom and struck up a conversation in the queue with an officer from the South of England. He had formerly worked in the NW and he was interested how we were getting on in the recession. He was explaining ...
I've been itching for someone to raise the Afghan war. With 7 soldiers killed in 7 days it is time to think again about why we are there, whether we have the right tactics to achieve our objective and wher we can do things better. At the time of the troops going into Afghanistan we were all so relieved that Labour were not leading us into another illegal war that I'm beginging to think that there was not enough scruting of the policy. Clegg gave a good account of himself on the Today programme:
There is sustained pressure on David Cameron's Director of Communications and Planning, Andy Coulson. What is his value to Cameron? A former tabloid editor, Coulson is reputed to have been integral to broadening the appeal of the Conservative message, and has been particularly influential on crime and debt. How successful the Conservatives have been at this is open to debate - much of their popularity seems to draw from Labour's inherent and growing weaknesses. However this is surely a crucial role for a Conservative Party which realistically needs to step up their game and fully capitalise on if they are ...
There's been something on my mind for a while now. How is it that the Tories announce a policy one day, only for the Government to come out with the same, identical initiative the next? It's as though the Tories have a mole on the inside stealing Government policy announcements as they are being conceived. And how is it that the Tories seemed to know about James Purnell's resignation before the Government? It continues to bug me......
Following my declaration of the strawberries I must complete the record by stating that I received the following reply from the registrarThe Registrar advises that the charity event does not come into the category of employment. You might only have to register this if anyone sponsored you for more than £650 to take part in the event. I assume this was not the case but please let me know if I am
So Mr Griffin yes my MEP wants to sink boats that carry immigrants to stop them from entering Europe and yet he and the BNP's were meant to be the friendly party who had grown hair and wore suits on and the days of the skin heads had gone? Clearly this man was a big mistake and I don't know how he got elected but I hope the people of the North West isolate him to give him a taste of his own Medicine. If people like him don't want minorities living in the UK then clearly we don't want ...
Thu 9th
13:31
"Out of Touch Member of Parliament must resign" says Lucy Hurds, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Cand...
In a letter to Member of Parliament for Leominster, Bill Wiggin, the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate Lucy Hurds has called upon him to resign from Parliament.
Although Paul Burgin did me a 20 questions to a fellow blogger interview I have to confess that I don't read his blog but after he left a comment and I went over to his blog and had a nose around I so the 20 questions to a fellow blogger of Alex Hilton and really enjoyed the read so I thought I would share it with readers. Everyone who reads this blog knows that Alex Hilton is by far one of my best Labour bloggers and I really enjoy the stuff he writes so it was great to read his ...
Sadiq Khan who I tipped to be a better Prime Minister then Gordon Brown back in May and prior to that in conversation is really turning out to be a bit of a star. From a blog post by Paul Waugh we learn that Sadiq Khan is the first Western Minister to visit Makka and Madina on his Umra visit a month or so ago. He is also the first British born Muslim to be a member of the privvy Council and he even gave the Palace a gift of the Quran. Mr Khan swore oath yesterday and took his ...
The Guardian website is running two stories in the Education section of its website. Both are written on the same subject and by the same writer. The first begins: University crisis sparks emergency places plan • Mandelson seeks funding for 10,000 extra students • Up to 40,000 could miss out as applications rise Emergency plans are being drawn [...]
Courtesy of the BFI, this footage is quite remarkable. My grandparents, one of whom is still breathing, had almost been born at this time - as children in the 1910s, the city was still fairly similar - a thought that I find difficult to fathom, such is the distant era nature of this clip. As a Conan-Doyle-reading kid I had trouble imagining many of the scenes involved - these films help, and certainly reveal the extraordinary progress we've made through technology and wealth-creation in the last hundred years, in spite of the effects of two world wars.
{cockneys} On the Cockney streets of Laaaaaaaandan word reaches Cockney Julian that the Cockney Labour Parties of Barking and Dagenham are falling to pieces with in-fighting. Astonishingly, 13 councillors are reported to be facing deselection, with a further 7 resigning. Hence 20 out of the Labour group of 38 won't stand at the next elections. For the mathematically illiterate, that's ... ... OVER HALF THEIR GROUP! Reports suggest that MP Margaret Hodge is involved in a dirty tricks campaign to influence selections. The deselected councillors are said to be "people who didn't like Margaret," with the Labour MP described by ...
So Prince Charles tells us we have just 96 months to save the world from environmental disaster. What utter, unashamed tosh. Seriously, how dare a man with a staff of dozens who drives around in huge cars - with several following him - who jets around the globe constantly and who does all of this on expenses paid by you and me lecture us about the environment. He also said that economic success comes at an environmental cost which cannot continue. Nonsense. This is the crux of the Tory vs. Liberal debate which has raged for decades. We can either ...
The government is thinking of changing the rules on HMOs (houses in multiple occupation, or shared houses) - and they are asking us what we think! Now we have a chance to tip the balance in favour of residents. Westmoreland has a problem with HMOs. Of course, there's nothing wrong with sharing a house, as such. But there's something seriously wrong with a neighbourhood where...
The conservative addministraton on Bath & North East Somerset saw their transportation policy in tatters last night as councillors rejected the Middle Bristol Road Option . The Bath Chronicle have a very comprehensive report of the meeting to see the report follow the link HERE
The conservative addministraton on Bath & North East Somerset saw their transportation policy in tatters last night as councillors rejected the Middle Bristol Road Option . The Bath Chronicle have a very comprehensive report of the meeting to see the report follow the link HERE
Presentation Housing Association have taken over direct management of the Bolney Meadow Housing Office. Bolney Meadow Estate was formerly part of the South Lambeth Estate when run by Lambeth Council. Following the stock transfer in 2008, an office on the estate was opened at the Melcombe House Annexe on Kibworth Street. Presentation had initially contracted out the running of the office to a private company, but have now taken it in-house. The new phone number for the Bolney Meadow Office is 0800 1979799
Wednesday: In part THREE of the War Games, we learn more about the aliens behind the abductions when their impressive spokesbeing turns up and... gasp... has a sinister connection to a secret in Our Hero's past... Meanwhile, we WOULD be watching TV's "The Wire", a story about phone-tapping, criminal conspiracies, corrupt politicians and favours for gangsters... but when Mr Roger Stavro Moredick's gang are hacking mobile phones and organising hush money with Mr Balloon providing the payoff for Soldier Coulson, "the Wire" seems somewhat REDUNDANT. Beyond belief, above the police, out of control... who do they think they are, TORCHWOOD??? ...
I've just tried to seek assurances from Ed Milliband, Energy Secretary, that the Government's carbon capture competition will not be delayed again and the result will be announced before the General Election. The competition has already slipped by one year and there are fears it may slip again and get caught up in the general election. Longannet Power Station is a strong contender for the competition to demonstrate that the whole technology process can work on an industrial scale. The Energy Secretary refused to give me an assurance that result would be announced by the General Election only committing to ...
A report by the Auditor General for Wales has criticised the Welsh Government's flagship Community First programme as unfocussed and failing to achieve its objectives. He says that despite better management of projects the Government cannot demonstrate that the £214 million programme is meeting it objectives and targets. The report said to improve the way the programme is delivered, the assembly government should make it a "clearer priority" across its own departments. It also recommended that the assembly government provide additional support to the community projects, while working closer with councils and other public bodies. Eight years into the programme ...
Another milestone in my bid to conquer the known universe - whilst I was on holiday my YouTube videos reached three quater of a million viewings. Sadly, for the rest of the world hoping desperately that I would get a life, I have over 2 hours of video shot in Paris, Norway, Faroe Islands, Iceland and the Orkney Islands over the past 3 weeks which will all be edited and uploaded to YouTube.If
Nick Griffin, the BNP leader elected so recently as an MEP for the North West, has offered us a way to end immigration. Nick thinks that we should get the Navy to drown black people attempting to illegally enter Europe. Nice. I really hope that this isn't a view shared by the people who voted [...]
Last week's Local Government Association conference was addressed on its final day by three representatives from Westminster who'd made the journey northwards to Harrogate to face the serried ranks of senior local government councillors and officers. The Lib Dems were represented by Vince Cable MP, given an early morning slot that not everyone got to. He was warmly received by all those who were there, in any case, which may represent that it was just the Lib Dem LGA group present. His speech covered his history as a councillor himself in the early 1970s when local government had greater discretion ...
What should be done - what can be done - when Britain's most powerful newspaper breaks the law and breaks people's personal security literally thousands of times? When the massive media multinational owning it has both denied any further wrongdoing when the tip of the iceberg emerged three years ago, and paid millions of pounds in hush money to stop all the rest of it coming out? And when the Labour Party, the Metropolitan Police, the Crown Prosecution Service, the courts and the "very relaxed" (ie bricking himself) Conservative Leader are all apparently compromised by Mr Murdoch's money and power? ...
It seems everything happened whilst I was away. Michael Jackson died (we had previously tried to get tickets for the O2 concerts when they were first announced but found they were sold out). Britain had a heatwave (we were getting worried as we sailed around the North Atlantic that all our crops would be frazzled by the time we got back - fortunately they are all doing well.). Cowley St suffered
In these tough times it's really encouraging to see entrepreneurs still prepared to give it a go. The first Urban Coffee outlet opens soon on Church Street in Birmingham's financial district. The owners have started a blog to track their progress, which should make for a fascinating read. They describe themselves thus: "We have no experience in retail or coffee and it's the worst economic conditions since the War!!!" Good luck folks! I've got a few tips for the Urban Coffee posse – if they've not done so already I suggest they check out the fantastic Saint Caffe on St. ...
We may all have been a bit premature in celebrating the formula one peace deal announced 2 weeks ago as it has been slowly unravelling ever since. Within two days FIA President Max Mosley decided that he might just stay on as FIA President after all and it's been gently downhill ever since. The latest development is FOTA, the teams' association, walking out of a technical rules meeting yesterday. The FIA's statement on the subject was short and to the point, suggesting not surprisingly that it was all FOTA's fault. FOTA's version of events, however, had more detail and, more's ...
So Guido has blogged saying the following: An excited Labour spin-doctor called Guido yesterday evening and said "we're going to do to Coulson what you did to McBride"... "it's going to be Coulson, Coulson, Coulson all day".First of all I am not taking sides here because I have criticised Damian McBride on this blog and Coulson will get his fair share if its what the general public want but come one Labour Spin Doctor don't you have anything better to do then get revenge. I have realised in the last couple of weeks/months that politics in some areas this being ...
Cameron in the last two or so years has become a fine politician, he knows his stuff, he knows how to lie about a Tory magical government and he thinks he is a godly character. This is all down to his advisor Andy Coulson who before becoming the Tory party leaders advisor was the editor of the NOTW. Whilst Mr Coulson worked/after him journalists at the NOTW have been using illegal methods to try and get information e.g. tapping phones and hacking text messages. Now this is bad news for Cameron who wants to come out as the clean politician ...
Listening to the radio yesterday I heard another minister try to explain how the Government isn't planning to cut public spending. The argument, which goes something like this: "Because of the recession we've brought forward Capital investment intended for 2011 to 2008 which means that we're still increasing investment by the same amount overall" Everyone else's argument is "They're cutting investment by 10%! It's right there in their figures!" Who's going to win? If in doubt, the simplest argument is usually the one that convinces the most people - this doesn't bode well for Labour. The complexity of their argument ...
I've been installed as Community Participation Coordinator for the Oxjam festival in Birmingham, which takes place during October this year. Last weekend I attended the 2009 Oxjam conference here in Birmingham city centre. The conference was a great opportunity to remind ourselves of all the great work Oxfam does, talk about the Oxjam concept, learn from previous years and network with teams from other towns and cities. The event took place in Digbeth's Centre for Voluntary Action – a great venue. Of particular note was a talk from John O'Sullivan who has a proud career in event management and latterly ...
As I alluded to in last night's blog update, I had a meeting yesterday with the Managing Director of National Express Dundee (Travel Dundee). It was extremely useful, with the bus company appreciating the points I made concerning bus services in the West End and expressing a willingness to maintain a dialogue over ways in which services might be improved there in the future. I had requested to meet with Lawrence Davie, Managing Director of the bus company, given complaints from many of his constituents about some aspects of the impending bus changes to be introduced by Travel Dundee on ...
If you go to Google's search engine front page - probably its most important web page - you'd expect to find a page that's been carefully design and tested and tweaked to get the very best performance. Every little detail will be carefully refined so that it's spot on, right? Google's reputation is certainly very strong when it comes to usability and testing. And that's why there's one thing that really stumps me about the page. Along the top left you get a range of options. The default is to search the web, but you can use these to instead ...
In the European elections, we saw the nice face of the BNP. They aren't racist, just patriotic. They've nothing against people with brown, black or yellow skin - they just think the world would be a better place if they stayed put in their countries and we stayed put in ours. Although, now I come to think of it, I don't recall the BNP opposing Brits moving abroad. The "force our expats to come back from Spain/Australia/US/Canada" campaign that would see millions more people settling in the UK has been conspicious by its absence. You might almost think that the ...
It is illegal to tap phones in the UK. Even when matters of urgent state security are involved, the authorisation to tap phones can only come from the Home Secretary - and even that under strictly limited circumstances. So today's allegations from the Guardian that News International has sanctioned widespread illegal phone taps against a large number of individuals, including cabinet ministers, are truly shocking. These appear to be simple fishing expeditions with no public interest defence possible. This is straightforwardly criminal activity. The Conservatives have found themselves in a certain amount of trouble on this: Andy Coulson, the Tory ...
Following yesterday's revelations about the Murdoch owned papers apparently having paid £1m to silence victims of phone-tapping (the Guardian splashes on it today) the former News of the World editor Andy Coulson is now under extreme pressure. He used to be editor of the NOTW but resigned in 2007 over the royal phone-tapping scandal involving Clive Goodman and is now head of communications for the Conservative Party. I read Flat Earth News last year, a book by journalist Nick Davies that exposes the methods used by Fleet Street including in Chapter 7 "The Dark Arts" a detailed description of how, ...
I've woken up this morning to two different articles on the war in Afghanistan. The first is by Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg in the Telegraph in which he outlines the ways in which the Government could improve the way it's dealing with the situation there. He highlights how lack of appropriate equipment is costing lives and calls on the Government to address this. Nick is completely behind the need for military action in Afghanistan: "I am a Liberal interventionist, who believes military action is justified when supported by reason and the law. I support the aim of our mission ...
Writing on the Sky News site, Jon Craig reports the spat between Lord Hanningfield and our own Bob Russell: The Lib Dem MP harrying his Lordship is Bob Russell, the rather eccentric but tirelessly campaigning MP for Colchester who used to be a journalist on local papers in Essex and a sub-editor on London's Evening News and Evening Standard.Eccentric? Certainly. Bob has handed me a dossier on Lord H, who's a former pig farmer, with a Bugs Bunny cartoon and "Lord Bonkers" on page one and the headline "A Lord with his snout in the trough!" on page two.Why then, ...
This time we are in West Hampstead and Kilburn and it's St Cuhtbert's Church on Fordwych Road. http://www.stcuthbertschurchhampstead.org.uk/welcome.htm One of the nicest little churches it's a modern design (more of that later) but it's also quite hidden from the roadside. The plaque on the wall is a tribute to Walter Watkins the first vicar who took over in 1882 and served for 48 (fourty eight!!) years. As well as the plaque there is the stone below which was clearly the foundation stone/topping off stone which reads TO THE GLORY OF GOD THIS STONE WAS LAID ON AUGUST 23RD 1883 Further, ...
Happy Independence Day, Argentina! And happy birthday to Paul Merton and Tom Hanks. Two big stories Murdoch Papers hack phones The Guardian has the story of Murdoch titles doing dodgy things with mobile phones – and it backfiring on them to the tune of at least £1m. There are clear links to current Conservative communications chief Andy Coulson. There's an awful lot of this story on the Guardian's site – including an interview with hack victim Lib Dem MP Simon Hughes. I hope this story has legs. This was shoddy journalism that should have serious consequences. Darling's banking reforms attacked ...
We've been a tad busy with work and european elections and stuff - including a brief break away - so the blog resumes normal service - apologies dear readers... :-)
Readers may remember how last year I supported Michael Connarty when he fought for our poorer people who were left worse off by Alistair Darling's scraping of the 10p Income Tax rate. However, following his vote on Tuesday against the retention of the 10p rate I withdraw my support on that issue. There were still some Labour rebels prepared to fight for what is right and fair for our most hard pressed citizens in these tough times. The Labour Government may well be talking about the 10% cuts of the Tories but have failed to waken up to the fact ...
Work is stressful enough at the moment and Hillingdon politics gets no better but to find one of yours oldest and dearest of friends physically recovering but unable to do and remember the most basic of things is horrible. I have made numerous trips to Hillingdon Hospital over the last week and while Tony's physical condition improves its looking increasingly unlikely he will be able to go home. I am afraid I have not been terrible impressed with Hillingdon Hospital. It did strike me as an organisation which lacked the basic principles of care. My feeling was that the financial ...
Honestly, how crap do you have to be when even European fascists don't want to sit with you? Oh yes, when you are the BNP! News comes that having been elected to the European Parliament, he cannot find enough European MEPs to sit with him and Andrew Brons. Instead the Italian neo-fascists, the Greek far-right, the Slovak xenophobes, and various anti-Semites, feel that the BNP is beyond the pale and would rather sit with UKIP (whose members are old-fashioned "golf club" bigots). This is UKIP, who in the last European Parliament lost two of its members because of fraud! The ...
{rupert-murdoch} Today's Guardian's sensational expose of the Murdoch empire's subversion of the rule of law raises a shedload of issues. The paper suggests that this poses "difficult questions" for: David Cameron and his comms director Andy Coulson (who was line manager for many of the journos behaving in this illegal fashion)... ...Various arms of the British state from the Press Complaints Commission to the CPS, who have clearly been supine, incompetent or both... ...and "Murdoch executives who, albeit in good faith, have misled a parliamentary select committee, the Press Complaints Commission and the public ." Murdoch himself doesn't seem to ...
This morning's Guardian breaks what could be a huge political scandal. The newspaper claims that Rupert Murdoch's News Group Newspapers has paid out more than £1m to settle legal cases that threatened to reveal evidence of his journalists' repeated involvement in the use of criminal methods to get stories. In particular, the Guardian says the story "poses difficult questions" for: • Conservative leader David Cameron's director of communications, Andy Coulson, who was deputy editor and then editor of the News of the World when, the suppressed evidence shows, journalists for whom he was responsible were engaging in hundreds of apparently ...
