Intriguing news from tomorrow's Mail on Sunday. A group of doctors are mounting a legal challenge to overturn Lord Hutton's finding that Dr David Kelly committed suicide. No proper inquest into his death was ever held. The newspaper says the doctors have: compiled a detailed medical dossier that rejects the Hutton conclusion on the grounds that a cut to the ulnar artery, which is small and difficult to access, could not have caused death.It will be used by their lawyers to demand a formal inquest and the release of Dr Kelly's autopsy report, which has never been published. It will ...
Deep joy.
If I get the chance I will post up the leaflets I received today. The Tories, who seemed keen to slag of April Pond and the Lib Dems for delivering a magazine style leaflet responded with an almost exact copy today and I also got a freepost leaflet from them. The Lib Dems sent me a hand written style leaflet aimed at my postal vote. I This wasn't their freepost. This put the leaflet count (for me as a postal voter) as 8 Lib Dem, 8 Tory (including one freepost), 3 Labour (inc 1 freepost), UKIP 2 (inc 1 Freepost), ...
After the buzz my controversial blog post has created I write this blog as a peace offering to anyone that I have offended. I agree with all the critics that I shouldn't have made the comments and it was naive of me to make them. I am a Lib Dem and the Liberals did work hard to get women the vote so the post was a little wrong for me to post and for that I apologise to anyone offended. As you know I come from a Pakistani background which is back a step from other cultures and in our ...
FIREFIGHTERS have hit out at plans to make further cuts to Salford's frontline crew and fire engines even though the county's fire death toll is above the national average. Information obtained by the Fire Brigades Union under Freedom of Information laws show that 10 firefighters will be removed from Agecroft Fire Station and one fire engine [...]
The decision is subject to "call-in" and when/if that happens, at least there would be an opportunity for taxi drivers/operators and public users of black cabs to have their say in front of decision makers. I at least welcome that process, as democracy should be open, honest and transparent. Open ,honest and transparent, great words, it's [...]
I never made comment before over the museum visited it as a Child like most Salford kids.Made it more real due to the fact my old fellow worked down the pit before the docks.I don't wish to be drawn into any arguments on who is right or wrong. But we must start to look at our heritage [...]
Broadcasting until Friday 17th: http://www.rothwellcarnivalradio.co.uk
I went back to Bradgate Park today. The ruins of Bradgate House, childhood home of Lady Jane Grey, are open to the public on Saturday afternoons, though that didn't stop the visitor centre closing at the first sign of drizzle. The house was built around 1500 and as Guy Paget and Lionel Irvine say in their Leicestershire:Bradgate House is remarkable for two things: it is built of brick and is one of the first houses of any size which was designed for comfort with no idea of defence.The use of brick is remarkable not just because it so early but ...
Only a few months ago Plaid Cymru expelled a student whose sole offence was to e-mail Ieuan Wyn Jones to complain about his party's unprincipled abandonment of a key election pledge to oppose top-up fees. Now they have taken disciplinary action against her mother. Her crime? She was allegedly leaking stories to the media. Once more Plaid Cymru have shown that internal discipline comes before the freedom of their members to express dissent with the party and its leadership. Their actions are not those of a natural democrats but of a beleaguered clique determined to maintain the party line at ...
This week Salford Council set new rules for black taxi cab drivers, erstwhile known as Hackney cabs. Whilst Council has brought in a few new rules, none are perhaps as controversial as the one to "delimit" the number of Hackney taxi cab licences issued by the them each year. Currently, Salford is limited to 79 black cab licences at any one time; which brings with it a few pros and a few cons. The good thing about limiting the number of licences is that the licences themselves attract an intrinsic value, sometimes as high as £50,000 - considering that black ...
BBC News is reporting that Airline chiefs are calling for a rethink on the proposed rise in air passenger duty: "Ministers say flying is relatively 'undertaxed' and the changes 'better reflect the environmental costs'. The duty is currently £10 for short-haul flights and £40 for longer journeys, costs which airlines pass on to passengers. Under the government's plans, the tax will rise to £85 for Australia and £60 to the US by November next year. The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents the world's airlines, has described the tax as irresponsible'. A Treasury spokesman said: "Flying is relatively undertaxed, ...
Charles Kennedy flew down from sunny Glasgow today to be the guest speaker at Sutton LibDems' annual garden party (held as usual in the spacious garden of Jayanta Chaterjee), accompanied by his wife Sarah and their young son Donald. The rain more or less held off and there was plenty to be cheerful about, in [...]
Sat 11th
20:17
well where not on the bottom we are eighth from the top thats if i am spinning this right?
Percentage who agree their council provides good value for money:
I wonder how many people are having a laugh at those primitive Saudis, where a family is taking a genie to court; just before they turn to their horoscopes, take their homeopathic remedies, visit a medium and watch (and believe) Most Haunted. Their particular variety of superstition might be a little different to ours, but hardly any stranger. I would, however, take issue with the Saudis over their appalling treatment of women and immigrant workers, not to mention theocratic state dishing out absurdly harsh punishments for minor offences. And their supreme achievement of making Man City the world's wealthiest football ...
The excellent work of Council staff often goes unnoticed. So I thought I would record just one little event that cheered me up. A few days ago when I was walking to school with my son, we noticed that a very large branch had sheared off a tree in St Mary;s Field. The branch had fallen across the pavement and into the road and was making it difficult for pedestrians to get along the path. So I took a photo of it and phoned it in to the Council's contact centre for action. By lunchtime the branch had been removed. ...
This week's Spotify playlist is not particularly themed or anything, and in fact was put together in two chunks – before and after I lost my net access. So it's more varied than most, although overall more downbeat than usual. Little Hands by Skip Spence is a song I discovered in Robert Plant's quite gorgeous cover [...]
{dscf4225} I wandered up to Mountsfield Park this afternoon for People's Day. You may remember last year, the Lib Dems had a rather tame tombola on our stall. This year, some bright spark decided it'd be a good idea to stick our council group in the stocks and charge the public 50p a go to throw wet sponges at us! So after Pete and Duwayne had been duly soaked, it was my turn... I have to say, being put in the stocks is one of the more bizzare things I've ended up doing since being elected - possibly even topping ...
Why has it taken so long for test cricket to reach Wales? England's only hope in the first test now is the legendary welsh weather. Let's hope for more rain tomorrow. In fact, why not hold the remaining four tests in the principality. The hills of Plynlimon in the Cambrian Mountains would be an ideal location. It could be the only hope for drawing the series.
FIA Presidential hopeful Ari Vatanen, who confirmed yesterday that he did intend to stand in the race to replace Max Mosley, has been talking to the BBC. Now, it has to be said, I think my hamster could do a better job of running the FIA than Mosley, so to say that I think Ari is better than Max is hardly a compliment. However, I have to say so far so good. He's certainly talking the talk of a man who wants to see an invigorated FIA where people work together for the good of sports. He talked about a ...
To London for two meetings, English Council wearing my Lib Dem hat, and a meeting of the council of 'Unlock Democracy' - I'm on the Management Board. Alright, they were due to run simultaneously, but they weren't far apart, and I reckoned that I could do part of both. Unfortunately, I can't tell you what happened in the key business sessions of English Council, because I said that I wouldn't, but I'm sure that some other blogger will report back, although I don't think that any other bloggers attend, now I come to think about it. It was a bit ...
I understand that one of the Liberal Democrat blogosphere's 'enfant terribles' has been stirring things up again. As someone of South Asian extraction, the idea of anyone in my family telling their wife how to vote is amusing to say the least. But then, the idea of a family matriarch was always rather more realistic than that of a patriarch... And naturally, I have stayed true to that stance, although my wife can't vote in Westminster elections anyway... However, it's taken me rather a long time to catch up with this debate, and I blame Ryan Cullen for this. You ...
Welcome to the weekend edition of our new LDV feature rounding up some of the best/worst/most curious political videos doing the rounds. First up, everyone's seen that picture of Presidents Obama and Sarkozy, supposedly showing the two world leaders leering at a 17-year-old junior G8 delegate. In reality, the truth is a little less demeaning and dramatic. Here's the video footage of the same incident: (Hat-tip: The Times's Comment Central). Second up, here's a brief clip of a couple of MPs engaging in what is known as Parliamentary wit. It's not actually that funny a quip, nor is it that ...
Man, this Test match is just like a return to the not-very-good old days of Mike Denness or Tony Greig; watching the current England team in action is like watching donkeys led by donkeys, not that I'm taking anything away from the excellence of the Aussies. Men against boys, and high time that the whole ECB setup was shaken up from top to bottom; it continues to be dominated by clueless old buffers in egg-and-bacon ties who still think they're living in the last days of the Raj. One blogger who agrees with me is, not surprisingly, a fellow Yorkshireman; ...
Ryan Cullen this morning published a look at the clicks out of the fabulous LibDemBlogs. It was inspired by the recent navel gazing following the June Wikio rankings coming out. However he did post some important caveats. There are some major caveats in the stats: a) these are clicks from LibDemBlogs.co.uk, this doesn't include people who use the RSS feed, those who have sites in their own RSS feed readers/aggregators, sites which are accessed via bookmarks or those linked from other bloggers. b) I only checked the "top" 50 blogs, as the current method needs me to enter each url ...
Nich Starling has blogged with a post that is probably the funniest thing I have read in a while since the death of Recess Monkey. You can read a part of Nich's blog post below: Lib Dems in Norwich North were given a welcome boost today after hearing that former North Norfolk Tory candidate and political blogger Iain Dale was back campaigning in Norfolk after his humiliating defeat in North Norfolk in 2005. Iain said "I hope to bring to Norwich North everything that I brought to North Norfolk." Lib Dem commentator and former North Norfolk Councillor Nich Starling said ...
Barack Obama wasn't giving the last women the once over but the new picture from Guido suggests he and Sarkozy were giving another women the once over. You can deny it once but twice? right Mrs O make him sleep on the sofa...
{IMG_1769} Cllr Glenn Goodall outside a property on Addington Road in the University area where waste is an issue I've just come back from a ward walkabout with my fantastically dedicated ward colleague, Glenn Goodall. The three of us like to get out and about as often as we can to keep an eye on things and pick up any problems. Today was no different and we enjoyed chatting to residents as we went round. We were shocked by the awful state some of the streets in the University area were in. Looking back at the Blog It was exactly the same last year. ...
I thought I would try a new way of doing link round-ups so I have been keeping track of what I think are some of the best blog posts from the Lib Dem blogosphere this week and every Saturday I am going to post links to them with a brief description of what I liked about them. There's no science or numbers behind this, it's just what I reckon. I will try and do at least one for each day Here goes: Saturday 4th July Jennie Rigg had some rather forthright opinions about whether Nick Clegg should have been writing ...
45) Henry David Thoreau, Walden; Or, Life in the Woods (New York: Dover, 1995, ISBN 9780486284958). An odd collection of ramblings and rants about Walden's two-year self-sufficiency experiment near Concord, Massachusetts. Apparently it's a classic; I'm not quite sure why. The best thing about it is the famous line "Beware of any enterprise that requires new clothes", but even that has more impact out of context, I think.
I know I'm slow on the uptake, but I've finally been able to watch the film Milk. A wonderful, inspiring film it is too. Sean Penn is brilliant in it, so brilliant that it is difficult to believe it is actually him. It is also difficult to believe that such an outrageous piece of legislation as Proposition No 6 was a serious proposal just thirty years ago.
Fresh Squeezings from the veins of the internet!Crotchw00t's Overnight ratings are out. They've held steady at 6 million-ish all week. Suspect that this will be enough for the beeb to recommission Radio 4 links: Tarantino's Jukebox this morning was very entertaining, and I'm looking forward to The Political Club on monday, but the thing that made me squee the most today was Any Answers, sadly not available on listen again. The next-to-last caller was an extremely sexist man who said that if men disappeared then nobody would be able to drive lorries or run the electricity companies etc. etc. The ...
THERE have been a lot of leaks in Parliament this week, but they were nothing to do with sensitive information. No, this week's leaks were the good old-fashioned watery kind, through the roof. My office is in Portcullis House. It's Parliament's newest building. When it was constructed the designers tried to make the inside seem so natural it would feel like being outdoors. Well, it really did feel that way when, during a meeting I was having in the building, it started raining INSIDE. MPs and staff dodged water as it came in all over the place. Dustbins were commandeered ...
We're half way through the Formula One season and so far only two men have got to the top step of the podium. Jenson Button has won 6 races, and Sebastian Vettel has won 2, including Jenson's home race at Silverstone 3 weeks ago. The talk coming into the German Grand Prix was whether Jenson would get his own back and win Vettel's home race. In fact, it's Button and Vettel's team mates, Australian Mark Webber and Brazilian Rubens Barrichello who won through in a thrilling qualifying session which was punctuated with showers and was horrendously difficult to call for ...
Lib Dems in Norwich North were given a welcome boost today after hearing that former North Norfolk Tory candidate and political blogger Iain Dale was back campaigning in Norfolk after his humiliating defeat in North Norfolk in 2005. Iain said "I hope to bring to Norwich North everything that I brought to North Norfolk." Lib Dem commentator and former North Norfolk Councillor Nich Starling said "Iain contacted me to say he was in my area of Norwich North canvassing this morning. Last time Iain campaigned in the area I live in he managed to increased the number of Lib Dem ...
Had to explain lack of understanding and selfishness on the Liberal Democrats part. They have done a disservice to the Citizens of Salford. Some of the young people at Buille Hill asked why the Liberal Democrats had blocked the £3million investment in the park. I had no idea the Liberal Democrats blocked £3 Million Pound [...]
As reported in today's "Courier" and in the "Press and Journal", following a 62-year-old woman being taken to hospital in Dundee on Thursday after suffering neck and chest injuries in a head-on collision between two cars on Riverside Drive, I have again raised continuing concerns about the appropriateness of the 50 mph speed limit on Riverside Drive, east of the Riverside Inn. I also spoke yesterday on Wave 102 news about the matter. I recently secured the City Council's agreement for a speed safety survey on Riverside Drive, in the area immediately east of the airport. This followed a number ...
{bubbly} A pleasant Saturday surprise to discover, courtesy of Ryan Cullen's blog, that Liberal Vision was the second highest visited website from the Lib Dem Blog aggregator in June. Only Lib Dem Voice came higher. Here's the full list: 1st Liberal Democrat Voice 2nd Liberal Vision 3rd Nich Starling 4th Himmelgarten Café 5th Liberal England 6th Liberal Burblings 7th Irfan Ahmed's Blog 8th Liberal Bureaucracy 9th Mark Reckons 10th Liberal Revolution Thanks to Ryan for the info and to all our readers and comment-leavers.
Whilst David Cameron continues to face serious pressure to axe Andy Coulson as Tory communications chief over claims about phone hacking at the News of the World, the Justice Secretary, Jack Straw has opened a second front that could potentially give the Conservatives much more grief. He has decided to accept an amendment in the House of Lords that will have the effect of placing a ban on non-residents and so-called "non-doms" making donations to political parties. The amendment, tabled by the campaigning peer Lord Campbell-Savours, is designed to force the Tory donor Lord Ashcroft to clarify his tax affairs: ...
If there is such a thing as laying down covering fire in politics then Peter Hain is an expert in it. He is constantly making headlines with apparently radical ideas for reform which distract from the wider troubles of the government of which he is a part. He rarely gets into trouble because in reality that is why Gordon Brown brought him back into the cabinet but also because on closer examination the initiatives Mr. Hain associates himself with are just reheated versions of previous ideas thrown up by the Prime Minister or his associates as long term aspirations when, ...
Nick Clegg writes an article titled 'We are asking our troops to do the impossible'yet fails to see the irony of continuing to stoutly defend a 'liberal interventionist' perspective. It seems somewhat amiss to me to question strategy and tactics and leave the premise of an action untouched which is what Clegg wants to do. [...]
Unlike some, I'm neither a Torchwood hater or a "Rusty" hater (the habit of calling Russell Tiberius Davies "Rusty" is the Whovian equivalent of referring to a certain political party as "ZaNuLiebore"). The first season of Torchwood completely failed to live up to its potential, to be sure, but it had its moments and [...]
"Many women don't have a clue about politics so they need someone to make their decisions for them and for that reason its OK for the man to decide who the women votes or is it? I don't see anything wrong with a man making the decision in the household to who everyone votes but then that is just me." Flippin' eck! The most surprising thing about the above comment above is that it came from someone who purports to be a Liberal Democrat. I'm not linking to him but Stephen and Paul have if you really want to read ...
Many people will think that I am a sad person who has nothing better to do or blog about so I blog about anything that fascinates me on other peoples blogs but what can I say. A fascination that I have come across is the blog "And then he said..." after reading the about page of the blog this is what I found interesting (it's the story to how the blog come about) The blogger writes about in 2002 how he started blogging and is still blogging today but since has been through 4 blogging platforms and now has ended ...
Politicians everywhere are being urged to get real about the fiscal mess. For the last month, this has meant a bitter dispute about the government's spending figures. Who will cut the most? For any numerate observer, the debate is trivial: a rising bill for interest payments and the social security budget make it inevitable, no matter what contortions Brown attempts in disguising the figures, and no matter who is in power. CentreForum has just published a new report about Britain's fiscal mess, called A balancing act: fair solutions to a modern debt crisis. It is called "a balancing act" because ...
Political Betting have very kindly published a guest post from me today about my recent experiences of betting with fellow bloggers on political events (and losing!) and the lessons I have learned. You can read it here.
Lets be truthful here I never hardly read Stephen Glenn's blog unless something that he writes catches my eye via Lib Dem Blogs so when I was at his blog and realised how hideous his blog template was looking I started thinking of some advice for Stephen. Stephen, you are an excellent blogger but it's a shame I can not say that about your template please head over to Deluxe Templates and get yourself a better looking template. This is a cry for need from one blogger!
Following my previous question I have been thinking of questions to put to Mr Clegg and here is another one from me: Will you back a Labour or Tory government if Parliament was hung at the next general election? This question comes after I have mentioned on this blog time and time again that a deal with the Tories will be like doing a deal with the devil. We all know that Labour have messed up UK politics but if they had a change of leader a coalition with the Lib Dems I think it could be a good government. ...
Nick Clegg showed he is a Leader this week by criticising the Governments lack of proper finance into our armed forced for the correct resources in Afghanistan.Nicks argument is clearly not with the service men and women as they have the full support of Nick and the Liberal Democrats.The Government were put on the back foot with Nick's attack and spent time on Thursday and Friday trying to combat it.Today, catch-up-Cameron has said the troops need helicopters!Doh - Nick said that back on Wednesday and Thursday and that they need better armour on the troop carriers and that personal kit ...
The armed forces are proud that they can overcome almost insurmountable challenges in the most extreme circumstances. That can do approach is something we should be especially proud of.But because the Government are starving our forces of the equipment they need they are turning that 'can do' ethos into a 'make do' burden.Instead of helicopters to transport our troops across hostile territory in Helmand they have to make do with trucks.Instead of properly protected armoured vehicles the troops have to make do with snatch landrovers.Instead of safe surveillance aircraft the troops had to make do with Nimrods draped with aviation ...
I am going to a "Conversation with the...FCO" event on Tuesday with the topic at hand terrorism and counter terrorism. I need to prepare my rant to give the damn government official knowledge and advice that the government don't have a clue what is behind the extreme behaviour of a minority in this country. Many know that a minority are not only destroying the image of Islam but are giving the BNP something to use to bag more votes and on that I shall rant and rave at the person from the FCO to try and get something into his ...
A Lib Dem poster team out yesterday in Norwich North were surprised to see a lady with a bundle of Tory leaflets under her arm walking up the driveway of the house they were putting the poster up in ask them what they were doing. "Putting up a Lib Dem poster", they replied "But I have her down as a Tory pledge", said the Tory "Well one of us is wrong", replied the Lib Dem team, adding "The owner of the house is a Lib Dem member and deliverer and asked for the sign." "Well one of us is wrong" ...
Guido asks the question because gossip has hit him that suggests he has the job of "Business and Community Manager" at a High School and I am a little worried for the safety of the children. Mr McBride worked for HM's Government and wanted to smear the opposition just think what he would do when working for a school? Mr Bride might start the High School Rag in which he would attack and smear every other High School and Head teacher from across the UK. Be warned Head's if a blog starts called the "High School Rag" then Mr McBride ...
This blog is not listed on Wikio so I don't get on the list of blogs but recently I have emailed them to list me so hopefully I will get onto the listings very shortly but Ryan Cullen has a blog post that has the top ten blogs from the MyBlogLog and I am included in the list at number 7. So the top ten read blogs of the Lib Dem blogosphere are: 1st Liberal Democrat Voice 2nd Liberal Vision 3rd Nich Starling 4th Himmelgarten Café 5th Liberal England 6th Liberal Burblings 7th Irfan Ahmed's Blog 8th Liberal Bureaucracy 9th ...
Sat 11th
11:56
This Vulnerable Man Has Been Hung Out to Dry by a Government Desperate to Appease America
Nick Clegg claims that Asperger's sufferer Gary McKinnon has been cynically abandoned by a British Government keen to please its U.S. allies. The Liberal Democrat leader has already backed the Mail's campaign to halt the computer hacker's extradition to the U.S., where he faces 60 years in jail. Now, in his own words, Mr Clegg delivers a blistering verdict on the...
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...
Admittedly when he was doing his fantasy Liberal Cabinet meme Irfan Ahmed said he didn't know a lot about history, so sadly yet again this morning we see a need to educate him a little about this. He writes: 'Many women don't have a clue about politics so they need someone to make their decisions for them and for that reason its OK for the man to decide who the women votes or is it? I don't see anything wrong with a man making the decision in the household to who everyone votes but then that is just me.' Ouch! ...
Andrew Grice in the Independent has a pretty upbeat take on recent polls: something is going on after the MPs' expenses scandal and it may be good news for Mr Clegg. The latest monthly "poll of polls" for The Independent shows that, while both Labour and the Tories have been damaged by the affair, the Liberal Democrats have not. Since April, the Tories' average poll rating has dropped from 43 to 37 per cent, while Labour's has fallen from 28 to 24 per cent. But the Liberal Democrats' has remained solid at 19 per cent. "The Liberal Democrats have not ...
Or should that be London 0 Brighton and Hull 4? Either way by evoking the memory of Johnny Ball from my childhood television and the Housemartins from my youth is a roundabout* way of saying that good news is in the air. Zoe Ball announced on her Radio 2 Breakfast Show this morning that she and husband Norman Cook are expecting a second child. So 8 year old Woody will soon be getting a little brother or sister. Just as long as the new child isn't called Buzz Lightyear.*No not the magic one.
Sat 11th
10:30
Why has the Norwich North Tory candidate redacted her links to Tory MP James Clappison?
The Tories' Norwich North candidate Chloe Smith is in no doubt about her own views on MPs' expenses, as evidenced here in an interview on her campaign website: People are right to be angry about the way MPs have abused their expenses - I'm angry about it too. ... I know that faith in politicians is at an all-time low. So many MPs - from all the parties - have abused our trust. ... we need some fresh blood in Parliament, and people with drive and energy. All good stuff. Who among us would disagree with any of it? And ...
Bless him: Many women don't have a clue about politics so they need someone to make their decisions for them and for that reason its OK for the man to decide who the women votes or is it? I don't see anything wrong with a man making the decision in the household to who everyone votes but then that is just me. In fairness, he goes on to say that such an 'edict' may be defied. But this is just patronising nonsense. OK, if someone says that they will take their lead from someone else, then that is their right. ...
Following on from Charlotte's post here on her views from the Wikio stats, I've gone through MyBlogLog and extracted the top 10 LibDemBlogs based on click throughs. There are some major caveats in the stats: a) these are clicks from LibDemBlogs.co.uk, this doesn't include people who use the RSS feed, those who have sites in their own RSS feed readers/aggregators, sites which are accessed via bookmarks or those linked from other bloggers. b) I only checked the "top" 50 blogs, as the current method needs me to enter each url in to the MyBlogLog one by one, and wait for ...
Before any of my readers panic thinking they have slept Rip van Winkle-like through to the 5th of November I don't mean that bonfire night. It is the eleventh night, one of those traditions of the twelve fortnight in July. Yeah the Northern Irish have a twelve fortnight in a 31 day month and not due to being bad mathematicians. Every year in the loyalist areas of Northern Ireland piles of burnable material starts to emerge into the open air in late June early July. Often nearby a sofa will also appear so that those that end up 'guarding' and ...
Today is the anniversary of the most horrific atrocity on European soil in my lifetime, namely the genocide at Srebrenica in the former Yugoslavia. In July 1995 more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed, and 25,000-30,000 refugees were "ethnically cleansed" in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by units of the Army of Republika Srpska under the command of General Ratko Mladić. The presiding judge at the Hague said, "The Bosnian Serb forces committed genocide. They targeted for extinction the forty thousand Bosnian Muslims living in Srebrenica... They stripped all the male Muslim prisoners, military and civilian, elderly and young, of ...
So it it starting to look like my prediction from Thursday morning that Andy Coulson would have to go and soon will not come to pass following the "Hackgate" scandal breaking. I think I underestimated two things:David Cameron's determination to hold onto his communications chief.The determination of (much of) the press to close ranks (even much of the non-Murdoch press) and dampen this story down.Apart from The Guardian and The Independent yesterday I struggled to find much coverage in any of the other press. Unsurprisingly The Sun and The Times were quiet on it but much of the other press ...
Iain Dale blogged yesterday about his canvassing day and what he heard/so and he writes about a 35 year old women who said that her husband makes the voting decisions for her and I ask what is wrong with that Iain? Many women don't have a clue about politics so they need someone to make their decisions for them and for that reason its OK for the man to decide who the women votes or is it? I don't see anything wrong with a man making the decision in the household to who everyone votes but then that is just ...
On Monday Nick Clegg is going to take part in a live, never been done before, online equivalent to his Town Hall meetings around the country: 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 ...
It's a long time since a tv progamme left me physically shaken and emotionally shocked and stunned, but Torchwood did it. First of all, I'm glad that the BBC didn't shy away from the hideous nature of the conclusion and order writer Russell T Davies to make it all a bit more cosy, so congratulations to them for keeping the deep, deep darkness in. Secondly, what a triumph of writing, casting (Peter Capaldi as the Government official unable to find the spine to do the right thing), music, from the tense, pacy stuff to haunting choral melodies, and effects (why ...
Traffic police put brakes on road crime <!–Last Updated – 10th July 2009 at 11:47 AM –> Traffic police from Greater Manchester have taken part in a day of action to clamp down on illegal drivers across Salford. One person was arrested as part of the operation for offences including: drink driving, burglary and assault. 11 [...]
On Question Time (42:30 in) last Thursday, Sarah Teather said that "middle class people drinking wine at home are just as likely to poison their livers as young people out drinking at the weekend". I didn't see this when it was first broadcast because I was slumped asleep in front of the telly having enjoyed a bottle of excellent Lindeman's Shiraz. So I do wonder whether she saw me there and that my comatose figure spurred her into her denunciation of middle class wine drinkers. It was an excellent Shiraz though and I have taken a couple of days off ...
According to the Conservative Party canvassing leaflet in Norwich North, Tory candidate Chloe Smith seems to think that Cromer is in Norwich North. Looking at the quotes from the leaflet she says she is pushing the council to address road problems across the Cromer area. Cromer, that is, in North Norfolk. Presumably too the council she is pushing (note they are not doing it voluntarily as they should) would be Tory run Norfolk County Council. Spot the headline "Tory candidate says local Tory Council won't do it's job and have to be pushed to do it." The reason for highlighting ...
You must in combat have a Strategy, a set of key aims, how do you achieve those aims, how do you measure those aim, you must have the ability to control the air as well as land.Your men must have the ability to move quickly to take key areas before moving forward, the ability to resupply [...]
Both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats are attacking Gordon Brown about his honesty with the public over the state of the public finances. Quite right too. The Prime Minister is not being straightforward about the effect of the recession in respect of public spending. But what the Conservatives are hiding in all of this, and the story [...]
One of the great strengths of the Liberal Democrats in Torbay is that just about all of our funding comes from within the bay. That makes the local party and its representatives answerable to local pe...
Friday: Crumbs! THAT was a bit of a DOWNER wasn't it! To avoid snuffles, I'll just concentrate on the POSITIVE for a moment: stripping the drama across the week has returned Auntie Beeb ratings of around six MILLION viewers and actually picking up over the week - along with a high appreciation index too. So, that's the BBC's top serious drama of the year so far and the leads were a gay couple and a pregnant woman. Welcome to Russell-world! Plus... The War Games! Skip to the end, and Our Hero is stripped of his companions and goes into exile! ...
The following tweets are from the conversation I have had with Tory Bear about the Tories in Pendle: Me: Tory Bear- Meet your friends in Pendle http://tinyurl.com/neyuq39:08 PM Jul 9th from twitterfeed Bear:@irfanahmed when the cons win pendle I will laugh. A lot.10:25 PM Jul 9th from TwitterBerry Me:@torybear Bear, meet your friends in Pendle, think about what you are saying and then we will see who is laughing.about 6 hours ago from web in reply to torybear Me:@torybear The Tories are strong but that's because they have Ashcrofts money otherwise a general election would be to much for them ...
The history of Government is paved with good intentions, only for its actions in the most part to have unforeseen and harmful consequences. There's a wonderful story in today's Telegraph about the implementation of the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target. It has all the hallmarks of a Thick of It or Yes Minister script. Hundreds of millions of old-fashioned low energy lightbulbs have been mailed to British families that often cannot use them, official documents show. The Department of Energy and Climate Change admits that it is "concerned" at the mailings - described yesterday by campaigners as a waste - and ...
Sat 11th
08:25Can some one please tell me what the hell are we in Afghanistan for? how much Blood as to be lost an...
Afghanistan: eight soldiers die in one day Eight British soldiers have been killed in 24 hours in Afghanistan, on what was the single bloodiest day for front line combat troops since the Falklands conflict. By James Kirkup, Thomas Harding and Aislinn SimpsonPublished: 10:00PM BST 10 Jul 2009 Photo: PA Five troops died in an ambush when [...]
From the Shropshire Star: More than 500 customers were evacuated from a Telford supermarket this afternoon when...Go on! ...a member of staff accidentally activated a fire alarm.
By James Lyons 10/07/2009 Tory plans to jack up rents on council and housing association homes were exposed yesterday. David Cameron's favourite town hall chief wants tenants charged the same as a private landlord would demand. Stephen Greenhalgh, leader of Hammersmith & Fulham in London, is pressing the Tory leader to adopt the policy [...]
Send your news to SalfordOnline <!–Last Updated – 10th July 2009 at 05:42 PM –> We're sorry to see the Advertiser leave Eccles for Manchester city centre, as it has a rich tradition of producing quality local journalism. We'd like to remind our readers: if you have a news story that you want to get out, [...]
We don't do a Daily View 2 x 2 round-up on Saturdays, so instead here's an open thread. What stories have caught your eye? What issues are on your mind? What do you make of the Guardian's exposure of Rupert Murdoch's newspapers' illegal activities? How well (or not) do you think the media has reported the allegations? Have you got any insights into the Norwich North by-election? Do you have suggestions for the next LDV party members' survey? Discuss away in the comments below...
There can't be too many people from the local area who have been beheaded and then recognised, but Sir Harry (Henry) Vane is one of them... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Vane_the_Younger We're up on Hampstead High Street - just before modern day Greenhill opposite the end of Willoughby Road and there is a small close called Vane Close. Vane Close is just by the entrance to the Royal School and on the wall to the left is one of the old London County Council plaques. Harry Vane is definately a glamorous story and could even be quite a film with his american story and ...
After the other day stating that I don't blog about Doctor Who or Torchwood because of the fear of being shown up by a fluffy pachyderm, today I can't resist a little bit. Torchwood has just finished its brief, short, yet intense debut run on BBC1. Five days, five one hours slots full of plot, action and suspense that kept the real fans yearning for the 23 hours to pass quickly after the titles rolled to get unto the next part. One thing that some of us for whom Doctor Who existed before Christopher Ecclestone and the oddly named series ...
I'm just asking, but can ( SPOILER! ) not be produced synthetically, and save all this hassle? And then nobody would have had to ( SPOILER! ), and everyone would be fine. And yeah, clearly set up for this is totally, definitely the end. Or is it? territory. And after ratings like that, they have to bring it back. Right? With Lois? This blog is proudly sponsored by
