Another Monday, another headache. Life is always better when you know what to expect in advance. # Spitfire has been taken to a Triumph specialist – early prognosis is gloomy {:o} ( # RT @artesea good to see BT finally pulling out of Phorm http://bit.ly/oQqv6 hopefully the death of it. # Things any would-be politician should do: http://bit.ly/10hx3E [Actually works just as well as a forced refresher for existing politicians] # Sooo... raining here. How's it with you? # Woke up at 5.30am... dunno why. Can't get back to sleep. Oh joy. # Just trying the special edition Marston's Pedigree ...
A senior professor who taught me at UCL once told me, "You know you're a serious historian when you pick up a book and you check out the footnotes to see who their sources were before you check out any of the content they have written." If footnotes are king then this humble blog has arrived as far as Wikipedia is concerned. Please let [...]
A typical Sunday morning. Wake up at about 8, go downstairs, make tea. Drink tea, go downstairs again to make more tea. Turn on kettle, nothing happens. Turn off kettle, turn on kettle again. Still nothing. Hmmmm... try a few other electrical items. No, mone of them work either. I know, ring electricity company... And that's when I found out that there was a high voltage cable fault, apparently affecting an area from Great Bricett in the west, through Needham Market and the southern end of Stowmarket, to Mickfield and Stonham Aspal in the east. Engineers were on the job ...
Jacques Peretti's programme on C4 tonight about Michael Jackson's death was poignant.
Today's nerve-shredding finish, which saw thousands of Welshmen cheering every forward defensive by the last English pair, was a reminder that test matches produce more drama than the limited overs game can ever do. Either limited overs matches are close, in which case they are exciting at the time but soon forgotten, or they are not, in which case they are rather dull and soon forgotten. But there is a limited overs game I attended 30 years ago that I still remember, and that is because it did not feel like a limited overs game at all. When I was ...
Last Night i had a call off a concerned resident, and she was having trouble getting hold of the police. I took about five minutes to get through and they responded in about five minutes or less. it was a false alarm but thank you for your rapid response.
Sun 12th
21:51
Don't laugh have a read. funny well when i was on childrens services a very fat person of high rank ...
The strategy also contains a poem outlining a vision of a more healthy Salford in 2024:
Afghanistan is becoming the Vietnam of our generation, only this time British troops are dying. We are getting sucked into an unwinnable war, with no clear military objective and with no exit route bar national humiliation. Yet there is one big difference - where are all the protesters? It is not as though protesting against wars is out of vogue and something that was exclusive to the 1960's. People marched in their millions against the Iraq war. Cabinet ministers resigned and there was great political theatre and debate in Parliament. The Iraq war dominated the media headlines for months, if ...
TEST DRAW FEELS LIKE A VICTORY... I'm a cricket fan of the armchair variety – or deckchair in the garden on a day like today. To seize a draw from the jaws of defeat seemed impossible, but how un-English and how brilliant it was that Anderson and Panesar hung on. On Thursday the party comes to [...]
The news today that female Labour MPs are complaining about the "laddish" culture in Number 10 Downing Street should be seen as preparing the way for the Labour Party to kick Gordon Brown out after the Norwich North by-election. On the ground here in Norwich, it is clear Labour are having problems getting literature out, getting posters up and getting local activists to want to help after the way Gordon Brown's henchmen kicked Ian Gibson out of the parliamentary Labour Party. Further evidence of the lack of enthusiasm for Gordon Brown can be seen from the lack of Labour MPs ...
I know, I know what the right wing bloggers will be thinking whilst reading this but it needs to be said. Tim Ireland (who I really don't like after seeing the childish games that he plays) has blogged something of interest which I only came to discover today. Tim blogs about how Guido when with Draper on the Daily Politics said that he would publish a so called "How to get Dale" a sort of document from Number 10 but after the programme he never did and personally I would like to know why? Guido you said on live TV ...
Craig Murray, in another of his "the whole world is against me" statements, is apparently having 80,000 DVDs made for his election address. He states that the reason why the Post Office had refused was, in part, because nobody had ever issued a DVD as their election address before. He refers to paper and ink as a 14th century thing and seems to think that the DVD is the way forward. Perhaps I should point him to a few campaign realities. 1) The six second rule - This rule states that on average, you have six seconds from the typical ...
Welcome to the 125th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (5th – 11th July 2009), together with a hand-picked quintet, mostly courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down. This week's collection has a slight by-election flavour, you may notice... 1. 5th Lib Dem leaflet in Norwich North on Nich Starling's Norfolk Blogger blog. And that's just before breakfast. 2. What Do To About the Screws? on Alex Wilcock's Love and ...
Political Betting has paid its tributes to a man who was a teacher but was not able to teach due to an illness. Samuel Best Shaw was a Lib Dem and poster on Political Betting with the name "SBS" and personally I think he was an intelligent man and he shall be a massive lose to the world of political blogs and commenting. Samuel made a comment that was also his last comment which really told the story of the gentleman and how intelligent he was and you can read it below: All really within the MOE. I thought the ...
Something different for this Sunday's video. The unearthly sounds of Gaelic psalm singing comes from Lewis in the Outer Hebrides and reminds us just what a strange and diverse place the British Isles are. As a bonus you get some pictures of the island's landscape including the moon over the stones of Callanish. I have visited the Outer Hebrides a couple of times and long to go back. MetaFilter describes what we are listening to: In Presbyterian Free Church's across Lewis you can here some of the finest examples of spiritual Free Heterophony in the world, where the psalms are ...
Well, what a match! Paul Collingwood emulated his namesake to defiantly bring England in for a draw against Australia in Cardiff. 343 minutes, 245 balls, and 74 scored, well done that man. Oh and three cheers for Monty Panesar, he even got a boundary. "Play up! Play up! And play the game!" Roll on Lord's.
sefton youth A great couple of hours today with young folk from Birkdale, Meols Cop, Litherland and Oldham youth clubs. Congratulations to evryone. I'll write up the full details later
This week I also visited a local charity in my constituency called Open Door. I had visited them soon after I was elected in 2005 and this was a visit to see how things were going. They do invaluable work with young people who have real problems and need support. Therapists work with individuals one by one, using talking therapies to help them back to being able to get on with their lives. This is critical work and naturally they need more funding - and deserve it, as I firmly believe it is this sort of investment in young people ...
The protracted SNP game of musical candidates continues in Glasgow North East. First the expected and obvious candidate Grant Thoms doesn't even stand. Then Newsnight producer David Kerr resigns from his job to stand and gets beaten by the SNP Opposition Leader on Glasgow City Council, James Dornan by 5 votes. Given the Council's unpopular school closures across the city, also opposed by the Liberal Democrats, this might have been a smart move. Now Cllr Dornan has stood down after Sunday Herald revelations that he may have broken the law by being a partner director of a charitable trust, Culture ...
The ECB website says: Kent became the first county in history to score four centuries in a championship innings against Surrey during Sunday's run-spree at The Brit Oval.Surely this can't be the first time it has happened? Later. It's not. It also happened in Warwickshire v Yorkshire 1896 for a start. And I shall not be surprised if four is not the record.
Today's Sunday Herald carried the story that James Dornan the SNP candidate for the forthcoming Glasgow North East by-election has already stood down, less than a week after being selected, stating he had illegally taken a position despite being declared bankrupt. James had apparently accepted a position as 'partner Director' and trustee with Glasgow Culture & Sport, an arms-length council organisation which was a charity. despite section 52.1 of the body's Articles of Association stating that an "undischarged bankrupt" (which James Dornan was at the time) could not take such a position. As this is obviously a really technical side ...
The expenses and allowances of councillors on Mersyside Transport have been published. Why did it take them so long? From the file name you would think that the information has been prepared for several weeks. All councillor's expenses are meant to be published as soon as possible. Draw your own conclusions. There are persistent rumours that the MPTE does not benefit from the advice of an independent panel. I find that hard to believe. It would be such a blatant rejection of good practice. The details can be found at : www.merseytravel.gov.uk - then hover over "Corporate" near the top, ...
June, it turned out, was a pretty good month to take off blogging to move house. Between the blogosphere and the twitterati putting their oar in, the European election results were pored over more thoroughly than any before (from a Welsh perspective I'd recommend Dominic Hannigan's review on Freedom Central) and gallons of un-ink were spilt over expenses and the speakership. I Said We'll Consider The Results Of The Consultation And I Mean No Still, the Assembly Government had to do something with its time and their continuing quest to look like they're trying to get more powers while not ...
I was out and about today collecting signatures for a petition against Gateshead Councils mean minded cut backs to flower beds and displays in Whickham. Many residents were telling me that this was the wrong thing to cut in the councils budget. A lot of signatures have been collected and we can only hope they help persuade the Labour run council to see the error of its ways. I met a lot of ex Labour voters and people who have stopped voting today who are deciding that they will be backing the Liberal Democrats next time round.
Iain Lindley on 12th July, 2009 at 12:16 pm Steve, at no point during the post did you actually say whether you agree with the delimiting or not...? Steve Middleton on 12th July, 2009 at 12:29 pm Quite correct. Must put that in my black book of none answers
Ross Brawn must have some faults, but I have to say he keeps them very well hidden. Not only does he design brilliant cars and generally have a genius for picking the right race strategy at the right time (remember Hungary 1998, anyone?) but he's very, very good at the people stuff. He's always keen to honour the contribution of the team and the drivers to success and to make sure that everyone gets the chance to share in the success. He makes sure that different people get to go on the podium at the end of races they've won ...
Here's my latest column for the Highgate Handbook and Muswell Hill Flyer: It is that time of year - when I get invited to all the wonderful summer activities that local people put on. Street parties, summer fairs, school fetes, strawberry teas, horticultural shows, carnivals and parades nearly takeover my engagements diary over these summer weeks. The Fair in the Square in Highgate was a raging success. The sun shone and it was thronging with smiling people. Stalls galore and food and drink was flowing. There were entertainments for children and friends and neighbours strolling around - just like a ...
We went in to Afghanistan in 2001, to overthrow the Taliban and get AQ and OBL. Well Taliban were overthrown before the end of the year and we failed to catch the bulk of AQ as they withdrew to Pakistan but the famous camps were all captured, much intelligence gathered in documents and laptops left [...]
I have written in the past about how frustrating I find it that government ministers (and often shadow ministers) won't answer questions and how they speak in an anodyne sometimes meaningless language that can be almost impenetrable to anyone outside the Westminster village. Of course what happens eventually is that ministers leave office and then in their post-political careers you often find that they are interesting people with interesting views and opinions about things. Almost the exact opposite of how they seemed when they were in office. There are various reasons why our system of government causes this state of ...
A short while ago I was having a discussion about Doctor Who with my friend Tilt, as part of a larger gathering of people that included several Doctor Who fans. Tilt was arguing that as one gets to see more vintage TV, the less special Doctor Who seems, and that the show only gets so [...]
If I were a Green Party member, I'd be ashamed to have a candidate like Rupert Read. Aside from being a bit of a whinger, while he likes to claim the moral high ground he isn't above telling the odd lie here and there, such as his repeated insistance that the Lib Dems supported [...]
So, assuming anyone's still reading this blog after the criminal neglect of the last month or so, I've been doing some tinkering. See, in the real world, I'm a Javascript programmer, mostly making user interface dongles for web pages and that sort of thing. I thought it was about time that I gave my blog some love. In the sidebar you'll notice a new Twitter gadget that I've written. It pulls in stuff I've done tweeted and stuff wot other people have twutted at me. This way people can follow the sort of inane conversations that take place, because, you ...
Political communicators like narratives. We like discussing them, arguing about them and working out what each party's narrative is. All three party leaders have been developing their narratives. The parties they represent have separate narratives. British voters can't get together and decide a narrative but that doesn't mean they can't have one. In 1997 one could argue the narrative was 'let's say goodbye to the Conservatives'. In many of the seats that Labour won the Liberal Democrat vote dropped significantly. Likewise, where the Lib Dems took seats from the Conservatives, Labour voters switched to the third party. Looking at the ...
I know I'm a Brawn girl, but I'd have to be a really heartless witch not to be pleased for Mark Webber as he celebrates his first Grand Prix victory after 7 years in the sport. Just 8 months ago, he was nursing a badly broken leg from a horrendous accident, not at 200mph on the race track, but during a charity cycling event. It's amazing that he was able to deal with physically and mentally getting himself back into shape to even be able to get in the car at the beginning of the season and he thoroughly deserves ...
Aled Jones had a very good interview with Dame Ellen MacArthur on Radio Two's Good Morning Sunday today. She spoke about the work of her Trust in giving sailing experience to children suffering from cancer and leukaemia. She mentioned that she does not regard the sea as dangerous - it is the wind and the weather that is the problem, 'the sea supports you' she said. Quite logical, when you think about it. But I was particularly interested in what she said about the superstitions of sailors - not starting a voyage on a Friday, for example. I'd heard the ...
Iain Dale defends politicians and questions the media's approach - Disagreeing with Peter Oborne Bloomberg's Al Hunt delves into political sex scandals - Top 10 US Sex Scandals Wikileaks takes a very different view to 'Murdochgate' than the Guardian - UK phone hacking... Liberal Vision contributor views fair trade with scepticism - ... Fairtrade and the G8 Gus O'Donnell promotes the Civil Service - Interview
Two articles are floating round in the more conservative news outlets today speculating about the future of Tory Tax Policy, which were brought to my attention by the excellent Politics Home . The ever-reliable News of the World suggests that the Tory flagship plans to cut inheritance tax, stamp duty, and introduce tax breaks for [...]
Having upgraded from Firefox 3 to 3.5 (I have yet to try out the new porn^H^H^H^Hprivacy mode!), I am quite dissapointed to find that it takes about 45 seconds (!) to start up with little or no CPU usage in that time and then takes ages to shutdown with very high CPU usage. After some googling, I found this solution that deals with the slow startup problem. Clearing the temporary internet files really did work for me, well it reduced startup time from 45 seconds to about 10 seconds. I have found much discussion of the shutdown problem but no ...
The chances are that when you join the Liberal Democrats, just about the first thing that will happen to you is that a friendly local member will welcome you to the party, and ask you if you'd be willing to help out by delivering a round of leaflets in your area. Or would you perhaps be willing to come out and knock on some doors one evening? It's certainly what happened to me when I joined the party nineteen years ago in a 'black hole' seat. This overwhelming focus on campaigning has served the party well: it's been the engine ...
Whilst perusing the Internet, I noticed this little gem in the Telegraph, which appears to have gone almost completely unnoticed. It's an interview with Lord Adonis, the new Transport Secretary, in which he talks about the difficult state that Labour is in. He argues how Labour isn't suffering from splits, and there hasn't been the infighting or defections [...]
One of the things I was intending to do if I had got elected to the European Parliament last month was to work with the League against Cruel Sports to end EU subsidies to Spain's bullfighting industry, in which nearly 12,000 animals are tortured and killed each year. I received several hundred lobbying emails from [...]
The 19th and 20th sitting of the Equality Bill. Hurrah - the last chapter - at least of the Bill Committee. The big issue of the morning session was my amendment - well new clause - which would insert an Equality Guarantee into the Bill. The problem with the Bill is that it is very prescriptive. The protection from discrimination is delivered to strands - otherwise known as 'protected characteristics'. As have explained before - these are things like race, gender, sex, sexual orientation and so on. What the Bill doesn't do is guarantee equality and protection from discrimination if ...
Just been listening to some women MPs on a really interesting prog on radio 4 (I figured it was a better use of my time than watching repeats of Come Dine With Me on More4). It included interviews with Caroline Flint, Estelle Morris and others, and was about women in politics, particularly focusing on Gordon [...]
I've been tagged by controversial* 17-year-old Lib Dem blogger Irfan Ahmed to say what I'd done politically by 17. Irfan says "At 17 I have canvassed at election time, delivered leaflets, blogged and blogging, wrote press releases and wrote leaflets." Surprisingly enough, I hadn't been blogging when I was 17 as blogs hadn't been invented back then. Babbage's Difference Machine was just being built and Ada Lovelace had her stellar programming career still ahead of her. I don't think my record of youth activity is very impressive - certainly less so than the following list might suggest. Anyhow, by the ...
Sun 12th
13:56
The Government Have Alluded to Three Different Strategies for Afghanistan in One Day - So Which One'...
Well, you can take your pick from the trio of stories put forward if you read today's papers! The Guardian argues that the Government have decided to BOOST troop numbers by 2,000 in the country as part of an emergency review into the UK's mission there, being rushed through after the bloodiest week UK forces [...]
Work on Phase 2 of the Selly Oak New Road is now beginning. This will run between the end of Phase 1A (off Harborne Lane) and the junction of Bristol Road and Edgbaston Park Road. Completion is expected by June 2011.The main contractor for the construction is Birse Civils. In the coming week work will include:setting up an office complex off Grange Road; andcreating a haul road next to Tesco
Every now and then I come across something really wonderful which gives me hope that the way human beings view the world is changing. Last week, as I cycled past a mother and her child, she reached up, plucked a fistful of cherries from the tree above her head, and gave them to her son. His face was a picture of delight. Sometimes simple pleasures are hard to beat. Simple pleasures such as the discovery of how easy peas are to grow on a balcony and how delicious they are to eat skins and all. And how young pea plants ...
The annual Family Fun Day at King Edward's recreation ground will be happening next Saturday, from 11am to 4pm. Once again, thanks to Surbiton Rotary for organising this event. They are promising a birds of prey flying exhibition, circus skills workshop, train rides, bouncy castle, junior football competition, live animals, as well as a number of other rides - and a market! Radio...
Celebrate Yorkshire Day August 1st Saltburn Valley Gardens Watch the North Riding Duck Race 2:30 p.m. Visit the Owls 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Sports and Activities for Young People Kiddie's Trampolines and Rides Various Stalls Raffle, Tombola Yorkshire Tea and Cakes In the Tea-Room All Day (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.)
Fed up with waiting for Palm to release their shiny new phone which has been promised for ages but doesn't actually exist yet, and being impressed by some of the apps available, I decided to get myself an iPhone 3GS. Over the next few days and weeks I'll post several short reviews of various bits of its functionality.First up, the "iPod" functionality. Apple claim that the iPhone is also an iPod - "it's a phone, an iPod and an internet device in one". I suppose this is the first and most obvious lie I've found in all their blurb about ...
This T-shirt design comes from Mikero.com. You can buy one through Zazzle. Thanks to an old post by Paul Belford for the tip. He also has some nice pictures of Snailbeach.
June, it turned out, was a pretty good month to take off blogging to move house. Between the blogosphere and the twitterati putting their oar in, the European election results were pored over more thoroughly than any before (from a Welsh perspective I'd recommend Dominic Hannigan's review on Freedom Central) and gallons of un-ink were spilt over expenses and the speakership. I Said We'll Consider The Results Of The Consultation And I Mean No Still, the Assembly Government had to do something with its time and their continuing quest to look like they're trying to get more powers while not ...
Further to the video clip from Nick Clegg that I uploaded last Friday, just a reminder that if you've got a question for Liberal Democrat leader, then now's your chance. Tomorrow, Monday July 13th at 1pm, he'll be joining the Reuters UK team to take your questions live. No subject is off limits. You'll be able to see the live videostream on the link below and you can ask questions ahead of the event or respond during it by using Twitter (#askclegg) the 12 Seconds video service (nickclegg) . Visit: http://www.tinyurl.com/asknickclegg
Four examples of Plaid Cymru's control freakery: 1. Plaid Cymru Assembly Member Janet Ryder is removed from a Legislation Committee after voting against the Government on key amendments on the Learning and Skills Measure. 2. A student is expelled from Plaid Cymru after e-mailing its leader to protest about his party's unprincipled abandonment of a key election pledge on top-up fees. 3. A leading Plaid Cymru Assembly Member defends his leader's aversion to scrutiny by accusing AMs of trying to destabilise the One Wales 'junta'. 4. A leading Plaid Cymru PPC and Councillor is suspended as a candidate for allegedly ...
There's a cracking letter from Dolores Murray in the Tribune, all about bingo. Dolores is now known as a stalwart of the OAP popgroup the Zimmers, but it was bingo that started it all. She was involved in a protest about Mecca's plans to close the local bingo hall. Being Dolores she didn't let it go, [...]
Utterly superb - watch...
Blog reader Matt Raven has drawn my attention to one of the graphs in this blog post by Fraser Nelson on The Spectator's Coffee House blog on Friday. Now, before I start I want to make it clear that I am a big fan of Fraser Nelson. He is an excellent columnist and is often able to cut through the crap and get to the real issues especially when it comes to figures and statistics. He has been forensic in his dissection of government figures and long may he continue to do this sort of important work. Unfortunately his high ...
Welsh Finance Minister Andrew Davies has told the BBC that Council jobs and services could be safe despite a squeeze on budgets: Welsh councils face spending cuts of millions of pounds, but Andrew Davies has told BBC Wales it need not lead to cuts. His comments came after local government leaders warned that the budget squeeze could mean 2,000 job losses in Welsh councils next year. Mr Davies said the savings could come from changes in working practices. He has told BBC Wales' The Politics Show that it was too early to talk about job losses. "I don't think there's ...
As I shall not be blogging today here is a meme that I shall get going. The question is what were you doing politically at 17 years of age and my answer is below. At 17 I have canvassed at election time, delivered leaflets, blogged and blogging, wrote press releases and wrote leaflets... I tag Nich Starling, Paul Walter and Himmelgarten Cafe to do the meme!
More responses to that controversial article in the Independent, calling the Cally a 'war zone'. The Tribune has an article "Storm over 'war zone' jibe", with responses from civic leaders and myself. They also print the joint letter from council leader Terry Stacy, Labour councillor Paul Convery and local priest Fr Jim Kennedy referred to [...]
I shall not be blogging today as I have other things that I need to do and shall be away from the computer most of the day. *Sigh* of relief from the audience at the back...
Withing hours of the by-election being called in Norwich North, something strange started happening in Norwich North. All over the constituency County Council vans and lorries started appearing with high visibility vested men carrying spades, driving various types of digger, rollers and other contractors vehicles, and suddenly long waited for road repairs started happening. In Taverham the road is up, in Drayton action is being taken to reduce speeds, in Hellesdon pathways are being redone (again) and in Mile Cross all the holes in the road that have been there for months have been filled in. Now I expect that ...
Yesterday's Independent reports that the Chancellor of the Exchequer may bite the bullet after all and hold his comprehensive spending review before the General Election so as to be honest with voters as to what is needed to get the books back into balance. The paper says that Mr. Darling's comments will be seen as a rebuff to Lord Mandelson, the business secretary and first secretary of state, who suggested recently that plans for a government department-by-department spending review had been abandoned ahead of the election: Prime Minister Gordon Brown also warned that it would be a mistake for the ...
Ten days ago I actually missed the anniversary of my first blog post on the occasion of the Make Poverty History March. However, I think today marks the start of the time I could have been called a blogger. One blog post does not a blogger make writing regular updates does. So on the 12th of July 2005 I started the trend of writing more or less daily, which but for one long hiatus and a few smaller ones has carried on ever since. That July looks vaguely similar in some ways to this. The boundary commission had just announced ...
Whoever said that this government was obsessed with targets was most probably right. Exhibit One, this order to Ministers from Number 10: Government sources say the prime minister, who will take a short UK holiday with his family in August, banged his finger on the table at a recent cabinet meeting, telling ministers: "You have to be careful with your holidays this year." An insider said: "This was taken to mean, 'don't go too far and don't go for too long'." The order was followed up by a forceful memo written by Paul Brown, the No 10 official in charge ...
Welcome to the Sunday outing for The Voice's near-daily Daily View series. As it's a Sunday, today it comes with a special bonus singing unhappy customer. 2 Big Stories Afghanistan: troops numbers to go up or down? The papers are agreed that, following the tragic and symbolic news of the number of British military deaths in Afghanistan now exceeding those in Iraq, Afghanistan is one of the major news stories of the day. But there's rather less agreement on what they think the Government is going to do. Either "Thousands more troops could be sent to Afghanistan within months" (Observer) ...
As we now know, Margaret Thatcher was anything but decisive over the fateful decision to defend the Falklands in 1982. Her first instinct was to let it go and she then ummed and ahhed before finally deciding to send in the troops - a decision which almost certainly saved her premiership and may well have been responsible for the SDP/Liberal Alliance failing to win the 1983 General Election. But as portrayed to the public at the time, and fixed in the minds of many for ever more, Thatcher was icily decisive, never wavering from the conviction that we must defend ...
And now the story's broken in the tabloids: And he's got something to say about Quangos too, apparently.
One of the most charming buildings in Hampstead is slightly hidden - partly because of the shocking overshadow that is the Royal Free Hospital and partly due to the scale of works that have been going on at the neighbouring building. I mean of course Hampstead Hill School on Pond Street. This is on the Lyndhurst/Rosslyn Hill junction next to St Stephen's Church and is the old church and community halls. I've posted on St Stephen's before and now it nears completion and back into use I'll give more information, but for the mean time will dwell on the ...
The announcement of Irene James' retirement took many AMs by surprise, as they hadn't realised there was actually a member for Islwyn. Others felt that it was impossible to spend more time with her family and friends than she did already.
From the Sunday Times: Rebel Conservative MPs plan to refer Andy Coulson, David Cameron's chief spin doctor, to the party's sleaze watchdog over his role in the illegal phone hacking row.Some Tory backbenchers believe Cameron took an excessively tough stance on the expenses scandal. Now they hope to exploit the row over Coulson, the former News of the World editor who resigned when the paper was caught hacking into royal aides' phones.Yesterday, Lord Tebbit lent his voice to the Tory rebels. "Cameron has talked a lot about 'detoxifying' the Conservative brand," he said. "Perhaps he should now think about a ...
