So you allow individuals to be given the opportunity to show what they can do on the fourth plinth of Trafalgar Square. Some people spin cotton, another makes a person out of bread rolls, another listens to music and explains why he likes the music. All to the good. At least they're doing SOMETHING or [...]
{The hole in Weston Park - 4 months on} Back in March I reported a strange hole in Weston Park to the Council (see previous posting) and I was assured that the contractors who had resurfaced the road in 2008 would fix the problem at their own cost. The hole appeared to be caused by poor workmanship with metal peices left under the tarmac. I assumed this would be the end of it, but last week I got a call from my colleague Cllr David Winskill, who lives nearby, to say the hole was still there - and growing (see ...
A few days off as my sister and brother in law came to stay for a few days. A real trip down memory lane as we went to a birthday celebration some cousins were holding at what has been the family home since my grandparents lived there. I was quite shaken at the memories that came back to me when I went into the house, not having been for very many years. A beautiful ride there over the moors...
The mystery has been solved, sort of. NHS Kingston has just announced that it is awarding the contract for a GP led Health Centre in the Chessington and Hook area to Malling Health. This will provide a normal GP practice with the add-on of a walk-in health centre that can be used by anyone, whether or not they are registered with the GP. The walk-in service would be open from 8am to...
This afternoon's Environment committee produced some interesting facts but also raised some serious questions. For example, to produce a really top notch, carbon neutral school building might cost something like 7% more than to produce one that just scrapes through the new building regulations. It'll save lots more energy, but over a long period of time. Should we spend the extra £1m on that
Bad firefighter. But I do hope "terminated" refers to his job and not his life: Columbus Fire Chief Ned Pettus Jr. recommended Thursday that a firefighter who shot his two dogs to death before going on vacation be terminated. [10 TV News] No related posts.
Autobiography is not about truth. Autobiography is about memory, which is a fickle friend. One can never be sure whether to trust it or not. But as a genre it is increasingly popular; we love to share people's perceptions of themselves. Hence the establishment, many years ago now, of the Ackerley Prize, named after J [...]
So says the BBC. I think we all knew that, didn't we? Talking of cats...
So, the new ICM poll is out and the headline figures show that the numbers for 'Others' are down with their decline boosting us and the Conservatives by two points each. It seems the impact of the expenses scandal is waning although I still think it will feature heavily in certain seats when the election is actually [...]
Maths was never like this when I was at school!
I'm pleased that the Scottish Liberal Democrats are opposing the SNP Government's proposal to convene a national police board and their 'one-size-fits-all' approach to Scottish policing. Help us to keep our police forces local. Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, spoke out against the SNP plans, "The national body proposed by the SNP Government is to be chaired by the Government. While we await full details of how it is intended to operate, it is clear that the Government have in mind that there should be a single national view on policing and that the local police boards will either become ...
Ignore the website this is on, its not tainted by the usual claptrap: Inside The Soldiers' Resistance.
I'd like to pay tribute to Denise Hendry and express my great sympathy to her husband and family at this time. The BBC reports: Denise Hendry, 43, died from a post-operative infection after spending 12 weeks at Salford Royal Hospital. She contracted the infection following the latest in a series of operations to try to repair damage caused by a botched liposuction procedure in 2002. Basically Denise Hendry went through hell and high water but kept on fighting: Mrs Hendry went on to campaign about the dangers of cosmetic surgery, urging people to check their surgeon's credentials before going under ...
That's the finding of the Hansard Society research paper MPs on Facebook: while over half (51%) of Liberal Democrat MPs have a presence on Facebook, the figures for Labour and the Conservatives are 15% and 9%, respectively. ... On a per-party basis, Liberal Democrats MPs appeared more likely to see Facebook as a communications tool (69%) but were the least likely to have personal or inactive pages. Conservative MPs were as likely to have a campaigning page as a personal one (24%) but were still most likely to be using Facebook as a communications tool (41%). Labour were the party ...
I saw what must be a new record for posters in one garden today. If my camera hadn't died on my Blackberry I would have taken a photo (and will at some point if I remember my camera). But in a reasonably standard council house garden in Mile Cross, Labour have erected six poster. Yes, six on one garden. I guess it allows them to say they have 6 posters up !
Nick Clegg, Leader of the Liberal Democrats today responded to Gordon Brown's Parliamentary Statement on the war in Afghanistan and last week's G8 Summit. Describing the Government's strategy in Afghanistan as 'over-ambitious and under-resourced', Nick Clegg called for extra helicopters to be sent to support the troops on the ground. Nick Clegg said: "I believe the British people are...
New ICM Poll for the Guardian: CONSERVATIVES 41 LABOUR 27 LIB DEMS 20 I personally think the Lib Dem increase is due to the outspoken recent comments by Nick Clegg on issues like Afghanistan. Personally I think Nick's shell has started to crack and with him coming out more and more it could benefit the Lib Dems. Nick needs to become more outspoken and you never know that 20% might shoot up to a 22%+ which is what I hope the Lib Dems will get. I personally think the Lib Dems will gain Burnley without doubt, Pendle if they work ...
Listening carefully to the row over helicopters - the provision of which (if adequate) would stop our troops having to be transported in USA reject land vehicles over mines and bombs that blow up and kill our young soldiers - I remembered Harriet Harman's words last PMQs: Ms Harman: The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to say that we must do everything possible to ensure the greatest protection for our troops in the field, and there is no complacency about that. We have increased the number of armoured vehicles that have been procured for and made available to our ...
Council officials have denied claims by heritage campaigners that a vote against controversial transport plans means they have legally been officially rejected. To read the full story follow the link HERE
Who: Myles Gallagher (landlord of the Green Park Tavern), Bath MP and Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Culture, Media & Sport Don Foster, and Widcombe ward Cllr Ian Gilchrist. What: Don will be visiting The Green Park Tavern to show his support for 'The Publican' magazine's 'Proud of Pubs Week', which runs from 11th-19th July 2009. This is the 3rd year of 'Proud of Pubs...
I attended the inaugural meeting of the Friends of Chase Park today. It was a good meeting with a lot of people having very radical ideas for the park, including taking community ownership. It was good to see so many people with an interest. It was good to see prominent local councillors so involved in community action, in particular councillors Peter Maughan, Peter Craig and Jonathan Wallace. It has been decided to call a public meeting where people can get involved in the life of the park. A great start to helping to protect a vital community asset.
There is an ICM poll in the Guardian tomorrow. And it will show the Liberal Democrats on 20% - up from 18% last time. Labour are on 27%, and the Tories on 41% (also up 2%). So the key change is a decline in the "others" score. There is more here.
Normally, I over-react to something which appals me. That over-reaction lasts about one and a half seconds during which time I issue all sorts of interesting words under my breath and think all sorts of thoughts which, if enacted, would land me with a heavy jail sentence. Often I am able to recover and perhaps I under-react as a reaction to my over-reaction. (One has to keep civilised after all, apparently). I think that is what I did last Saturday. I wrote a post very quickly (within about ten minutes in fact) responding to a post from a regular blogger ...
Once upon a time, when I was young, I became active in the Young Liberals - a radical bunch indeed, if not necessarily that effective. As I rose effortlessly through the ranks - it wasn't that I was that good, it was just that I was consistently the only person available to fill vacancies, it dawned on me that a radical gesture was required. For a middle-class surburban kid like myself, the idea of doing something that involved risk, pain or demonstration was ruled out instantly. So I joined the National Liberal Club, immediately marking me out from the knit ...
Tomorrow I am on Radio Five Live's Drive show, live from Norwich, giving an opposite view of the Norwich North by-election from Iain Dale who will also be on, from a link in London. It is scheduled to be on at 6.10pm and I would love to say "It promises to be lively".
It's funny how you can think you heard someone saying something which they didn't. I thought I heard Simon Mayo saying on Radio Two' Drivetime that Real Thing's "You to me are everything" was the first UK number one by a black band (in 1976). After rifling through my reference books and finding Emile Ford and the Checkmates, the Tams, the Miracles, the Tymes and the Stylistics (all of whom had number ones before the Real Thing) I re-listened to the show and realised he actually said "first number one single by a black British band". But it is a ...
Liberator 334 is with subscribers and Liberal Democrat Voice has a summary of this issue's contents. All of which means it is time to spend another week with Rutland's most celebrated fictional peer. Monday We Bonkers have never been flippers - though in the Roaring Twenties my daughters were certainly flappers. You will not find me claiming that some wretched basement flat in Pimlico is my principal residence so that I may charge the upkeep of Bonkers Hall to the hard-pressed taxpayer. I do not claim for cleaning out my moat: I clean it out myself. (Or, to be precise, ...
There's been a hue and cry today sparked by research done for a BBC Radio 4 programme, The Political Club, showing the number of elected representatives and their advisers on the UK public payroll now tops 29,000 at a cost to the taxpayer of £499 million. And there's been particular focus on the practise of 'tithing', the contributions political parties expect their representatives to make to party funds out of their salaries. Debate on the topic often generates more heat than light. Let's first of all deal with the ethical question: is it right that taxpayers' money should fund political ...
Just listening to the new I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue and the excellent Rob Brydon has completely nailed it. He's got just the right tone and he sounds like the lines written for him were, er, written for him. Credit to Stephen Fry and Jack Dee but this gig is Rob's.
I don't always quote Conservative philosophers in my speeches. But I did quote Edmund Burke in my speech at the demonstration against the Helioslough freight terminal application organised by STRiFE outside the Alban Arena on Saturday. All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. There must have been a couple of hundred people there specifically for the rally - and then all the passers-by who were shopping at the French market. I was pleased to be on the same platform as Roma Mills and Anne Main because there is nothing party political about ...
The decision by Nick Clegg to break the political concensus by questioning British military strategy in Afghanistan, combined with further tragic casualties in the past week, has seen the conflict propelled to the forefront of national debate. Today the Prime Minister came to the Commons to deliver a Parliamentary statement on the war in Afghanistan and last week's G8 Summit. Here's what Nick Clegg said in response: I believe the British people are resilient and understand the sacrifices that are inevitable in conflict – so long as the purpose of that conflict is clearly explained and understood. But how can ...
We contacted the council to find out why Prima Road had been closed - this is the reply we had back from Lambeth: Thames Water are in the process of the Victoria Main Replacement in Prima Road. The excavation in which they were required to dig is in excess of 1.2m resulting to using a frame and full supports of the sides. The original work site areas had given allowance for traffic to pass but as the workers were trying to dig the depth, vehicles passing were causing slight vibration through the ground which unfortunately was enough for the road ...
Well - it went relatively well - the Nick Clegg /Reuters cyber-experiment. I was in LibDem HQ - which Helen Duffett (in charge of technology on the day) had renamed the 'grass roots green room' from whence we submitted questions along with the rest of the country. Yes - there were glitches - there always are when you do this stuff. But I always think it is a bit like hand-held camera work - makes it real. I remember being on 18 Doughty Street the night that Iain Dale launched his brave attempt at a proper political TV station. It ...
Local residents in North Taunton have one more week to air their views either for or against the closure of two secondary schools and the proposed academy to replace them. You can email your response to info@grebotdonnelly.com giving your reasons for opposition or support, or pick up a leaflet at the library or at one of the secondary schools - St Augustine's school or Ladymead School. You can also go to the official proposed academy for Taunton website or read the views of Ladymead School staff and Governors at their Think Twice against the academy for Taunton campaign site. If ...
One of the things we discovered this week, through worried e-mails from residents, is that some people actually moved to Milton Keynes because we still have weekly rubbish collections. They feared that Milton Keynes ('such a clean place') would deteriorate...Yes the fortnightly collection question still simmers on... Why were they worried? Well the new MK weekly food waste collection system has started rolling out in my patch. So many people got new green bins, and some though this was an undercover step to move to different collection weeks for different bins. Not so. Weekly collections stay for recyclable paper and ...
I honestly was going to start doing a round up of good blog postings, news stories or just things that took my fancy on the internet before Jennie started her brilliant "The Blood is the Life" feature. I know you're not going to believe me but, well, meh! I don't know how often I'll do it, and it'll all be very relaxed, but I realised I had to start today with these two posts that tugged at my heartstrings. Firstly, the lovely peat worrier points out what an illiberal lot we Scots can be. Secondly, Vagina Dentata reminds us about ...
My other (see previous post) question at Full Council was on the cost of the Labour Cabinet meeting in Liverpool. I have been pressing for some time saying the government ought to pay the policing costs of this. The police authority wrote to ask for the money. Sadly they have been turned down by the government (thus turning their PR into definitely negative I would have said) In my supplementary I asked whether the authority would be pushing government to reconsider. The answer to that was yes. Amazingly I didn't get heckled this time. On the previous occasions I have ...
The Evening Standard published a bold article last Thursday suggesting that Hammersmith & Fulham Council and the Tory leadership were in a plot reminiscent of the days of Dame Shirley Porter ('Plot to rid council estates of Poor', 9 July 2009)
I asked a couple of questions at Full Council last week. (As an executive member I am not allowed to ask questions of other exec members but I can ask questions of the councillors representing the police authority, the transport authority and so on) I asked about the facilities for cyclists at Liverpool South Parkway station. We are losing more than 60 spaces which will, when work has been completed, be replaced by about half that number. Now I know that many of the bike stands were actually not used. But my argument is that to encourage people to use ...
Back in the Space Year 2000, long before I started blogging, then top Doctor Who fan site Outpost Gallifrey published my review of a very silly CD, blazoned on the cover as WHO IS Dr WHO - The Amazing Musical Adventures of Dr. Who and his friends, the first and sadly only one of a 'series' collecting the wilder shoals of Doctor Who-inspired pop, here mostly from the 1960s (at least the fab Radiophonic Workshop music series made it to four CDs). With the disused remnants of Outpost Gallifrey set for deletion in a fortnight, here's a terrifyingly camp reprint. ...
The Evening Standard published a bold article last Thursday suggesting that Hammersmith & Fulham Council and the Tory leadership were in a plot reminiscent of the days of Dame Shirley Porter ('Plot to rid council estates of Poor', 9 July 2009) Hammersmith & Fulham Council is currently consulting on their Local Development Framework (LDF) Core Strategy Options which repeatedly refers to a need for 'decent neighbourhoods'. Neighbourhoods that are currently not 'decent' have been identified throughout the borough. It seems to me that if these neighbourhoods contained homes which do not meet national 'decent homes standards' then the Council and ...
Have a look at this live feed by following this link HERE
Socialist politician Tommy Sheridan is in court today, facing charges of perjury. Heartening to find that politicians believed to be lying, deceitful cheats are not wholly beyond the reach of the law. More of this, please. {tommy-sheridan1}
I had this profound thought while watching old movies made of ordinary people in the early 1900s. Everyone in it must be dead! That's quite spooky – a bit like a whole pogrom had gone on by time! It's only in the last couple of decades that this phenomena has happened – before it was art [...]
The latest edition of Liberator magazine (issue no.334 - July 2009) has just been mailed to subscribers. This month it's a bumper 32-page crisis edition, packed with comment from many leading Liberal Democrats. Here's a summary of the contents: • The editorial column Commentary considers the Liberal Democrat response to the political crisis. The party must question why it is poor at fighting PR system elections and timid in putting forward its principles and policies. • The insider gossip column Radical Bulletin examines the circumstances of Chris Rennard's abrupt resignation as chief executive. • Our lead article 'Considering the beam' is written by ...
Here's how the BBC reported this under the slightly unappetising headline, Sir Menzies to head Green probe: Sir Menzies Campbell is to chair an inquiry into the police raid on the Commons office of Tory MP Damian Green. The former Lib Dem leader will review how the Commons authorities deal with search requests from the police. The cross-party panel also includes former home secretaries David Blunkett and Michael Howard and ex-foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind. Commons leader Harriet Harman, who has set up the pane, will ask MPs to approve its terms of reference. She has asked it to report ...
It's the sharp end of the Parliamentary session, as a number of Bills reach the point of potential no return, and the Government hasten to get as much of their poorly drafted legislation through whilst the sun shines. One complication is the unexpected death yesterday of Lord Kingsland, the Conservative frontbencher for constitutional and legal affairs which, given the nature of the week's business, is likely to cause some reshuffling, if only on the Conservative benches. Liberal Bureaucracy sends its condolences to his family. So, what do we have to look forward to? Monday From the Liberal Democrat benches, oral ...
The link is to Rob Jones' photographs of the Acocks Green Carnival.
Fancy tasting a Smörgåsbord of appealing blog posts? Political restaurant critiques, Torchwood reviews, misleading statistics (I'm shocked, shocked, etc), how to get people involved in Lib Dem policy, pictures of Darwin, the limits of free will, and a beginner's guide to Doctor Who DVDs. All splendidly worth a look, and you know which one got me most interested, don't you? Astoundingly, it has by far the biggest comment thread, too. So, my own recommendations for 'the nine Doctor Who DVDs you must have' in a moment. Oh, and there's even a bad news story about Gordon Brown that wasn't true... ...
On Sunday, Roger and Vivien Weeden held a cream tea in their beautiful garden at Three Oaks, in order to fundraise for the Liberal Democrat General Election campaign. The event was a sell-out and there were good takings for the Hastings & Rye local party. Speaking after the event, parliamentary campaigner Nick Perry said, "I don't know [...]
I have learned by now to take anything that David Cameron says with a pinch of salt. His comments appear to be either a dog whistle aimed at appealing to the Tory faithful and/or Middle England, or they are an echo of Nick Clegg's comments where they have received apparent public support. But even he [...]
Fantastic day out for the family again on Saturday at the St Leonard's Festival. A really eclectic mix of community organisations, food stalls, fun for the kids and the music on stage. My personal favourite was (I think they were called) The Rattlebags, who performed acapella in front of Warrior Square train station at the end of [...]
This weekend London Liberal Youth are going on holiday! The weather is hot, the Focus leaflets are still warm and travel expenses are being paid by the party. We're going to be helping out April Pond in the Norwich North by-election which is coming up. As part of the Lib Dem effort in the Norwich North by-election brought about by the resignation of Ian Gibson MP in the aftermath of the expenses scandal, London Liberal Youth will be organizing a little two-day excursion up to the constituency to help with campaigning next weekend in conjunction with national Liberal Youth. Your ...
I'm watching Nick Clegg taking questions live from people on Twitter here right now. He's there until 2, I think. It's a great way for anyone, whether they're at home, school or work to question the leader of a political party. So far he's taken questions on climate change, cultural identity, faith schools, science funding, and Afghanistan. He has also said how much he loves getting out and meeting people and listening to what they have to say, whether it's online or in person and how valuable the experience is for him to be outside the Westminster bubble. You can ...
We know that the gap between rich and poor is getting wider under Labour; and that Islington is one of the communities most affected by this polarisation. Now the Joseph Rowntree Foundation reports that despite the recession, which might be thought to act as an equaliser, it's still the poorest who are being hit hardest. [...]
Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg is taking questions live now at an online social media event at Reuters. Watch here, but most importantly, put your questions to him! You can do this at the Reuters website, or via Twitter – remember to include the hashtag #askclegg in your tweets so that they will be picked up and passed on. I'm at Lib Dem HQ with Lynne Featherstone MP, chair of the Liberal Democrat Technology Board, and we'll be passing on questions from grassroots activists gathered here. You can also ask questions in the comments thread below – until 2pm today. ...
From BBC News website: An investigation has been launched after a British National Party (BNP) sticker was displayed on a bin lorry. The Salford Council inquiry was prompted when a national newspaper published a photograph of the lorry with the sticker on the windscreen. "The council has clear rules against using council property to promote political parties in this way," environment councillor Joe Murphy said. He declined to comment any further until an investigation was carried out. {Share/Save/Bookmark}
{crowd} The weekend marked World Population Day, one of the many days the UN dedicates to telling us how awful everything is. But are global population levels really a problem? This question is posed by the Electronic Journal of Sustainable Development, which presents a new study on both sides of the argument - go take a butcher's, it makes for good reading. Population doom-mongers have existed for millennia, along with people who moan that the next generation are heading for moral degradation. In fact, there's probably a large cross-over between the two groups. Thomas Malthus is famed for being of ...
Newton's Third Law of Motion ('to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction') applies equally to politics. Looked at over the long-term, it is easy to find examples of how policy has a tendency to swing from one extreme to the other rather than alighting at a happy medium. For example: - in local government it is first decided that 'small is beautiful' and local authorities are created which relate to relatively close-knit geographical areas; but over time it is decided that these bodies are too small to be 'strategic', and therefore what is needed is larger authorities ...
Created by Posh Tory and posted on this blog via Tory Bear. The image above says it all for me it shows that many not just me think that Brown should go and allow Labour to pick themselves a leader who can lead them into the next general election. I have said Labour should get rid of Brown as soon as and get Alan Johnson to take over.
Back in January I blogged about the failure by Reading Girls School to adaquately maintain a fence and hedge on Bede Walk off Northumberland Avenue. Well, I visited the area yesterday and received more complaints from residents about lack of action by the School. The trees by the fence have got so overgrown that they are blocking some of the streetlights on the Walk. Result - residents are not impressed. I have written once again to the School requesting that they take action as soon as possible to tidy up the fence area. I've asked that they increase their monitoring of this area so that ...
Property Week reports that advertising giants Ogilvy & Mather are possible tenants at Kings Cross Central. The Kings Cross Environment blog has news of a competition for the future of the listed Victorian gasholders.
Monday is usually my catch-up day; I have the day off from work, and I can respond to all those emails and comments that got left over the weekend, when I work all the hours Cthulhu sends. Today, I will be working a long shift at work instead of having a day off... However, one thing I do want to do is pick up on a meme. Irfan Ahmed, whom I mentioned the other day, via Mr Quist, asks what political achievements we had all made by the age of 17. When I was 17, the one thing I was ...
For the first time in nearly a decade (other than holidays and times when I worked from home) I am not spending a Monday morning on the train to London. Bliss! Not that it's very relaxing here. Okay, I didn't have to get up at 6.40am, but I have had to make a trip to the allotment and now I am back home, surrounded by papers I need to read for meetings tonight and tomorrow. Meanwhile an email has
{nurse} The Sheffield Primary Care Trust descends to new depths of lunacy with its latest "public information campaign". Entitled "An orgasm a day", the leaflet tells teenagers they have a "right" to an enjoyable sex life. To the inevitable disappointment of its readership, the leaflet doesn't say whether you can access a willing pool of experienced sexual partners at your local hospital in order to exercise this "right". You can apparently improve your health by making sure that, every week, you eat 35 portions of fruit and veg and have sex twice. I don't know if the benefits are enhanced ...
Today two dozen years ago, a brilliant idea born out of two men's obsession and determination gave us Live Aid. How Magnificent! The famine in Ethiopia the previous summer had been of almost Biblical proportions, and genuinely moved people in this country like no other natural disaster. I remember, how everyone I knew was so moved and wanted to do something about it. Over Christmas there was Band Aid, and in the months that followed the concert grew and grew and grew. As a charity fundraiser it had been hoped that Live Aid would raise £1m, the final figure was ...
Responding to news that the Government is to perform a U-turn on its opposition to a ban on donations from 'non-doms', Liberal Democrat Shadow Justice Secretary, David Howarth said: "Jack Straw has finally bowed to pressure from across Parliament to ban the biggest exercise in buying constituencies since rotten boroughs." Well done David! But it really shouldn't have taken so long for Labour Ministers to see that it's right in principle to stop large donations from people who do not pay tax in Britain. Now those Tory donors will have to pay their dues to the country before they pay ...
I was happily resting from blogging when Karen Armstrong's confused article on faith and belief managed to wake me up. I fear Karen Armstrong has made quite a 'metaphysical mistake' in her article on belief and reason ('Metaphysical mistake').Armstrong states that in Greek thought there were two ways to the 'truth': one through mythos (myth) and one through logos (reason). The former was a more
No one who's spent any time around children could come away thinking that a three-year-old could suddenly decide to act like a six-year-old (though it happens the other way round more often than I'd like). Nor can an eight year old child sit up and decide she's going to behave like a twelve year old; or a child with concentration problems simply make the decision to concentrate much harder and solve everything. We rightly understand and accept that children's brains are wired in certain ways. That's why seven-year-olds pretty much behave like seven-year-olds. They do today, they did a decade ...
The Pendle market for the general election took a twist when the odds dropped on Afzal Anwar getting elected and have since gone back to 1/33 again. I raised the question why this was on Political Betting and was given an answer which suggests that someone or some people put money on Afzal winning the seat. I have claimed on this blog on many occasions that Pendle changes who it votes for like underpants and we don't know who the next MP is going to be. It's great to see that people do think its Afzal and are betting on ...
Many will know that I read PB as I get a lot of food for thought from the pearls of wisdom of Mr Mike Smithson and I post with the pearls at hand. I am also linked on the sidebar as a top read of Mike's so I thought to myself yesterday why not become a commenter or as you are known on PB a "Poster" on Political Betting. I shall use my name as the posting name so if you see a comment by an "Irfan Ahmed" on PB its me!
Following my letter to all nearby residents, the Council has received a large number of objections to the license application for a late night venue at 89-91 livery Street. The case will be heard by Licensing Sub-Committee B on Tuesday 21st July at the Council House.
Newspaper columnists who use their column to whinge about their own personal circumstances do slightly annoy me, but, even I, if I had a newspaper column would be using my experience of the last few days in the property market to whinge. On Friday, a perfectly good property chain, where all the buyers and vendors had (finally) agreed a price, that they could all afford, and everyone was excited about moving up and on to new homes where they would find more space for their books/children/lives (delete where appropriate), fell apart. It fell apart because the mortgage company surveyor re- ...
The attack on the Welsh Affairs Select Committee from Plaid Cymru AM and former Heritage Minister, Rhodri Glyn Thomas in this morning's Western Mail is bizarre. Not least because in the 12 months he was a Minister he failed to publish himself a single draft of the order to transfer powers on the Welsh Language to the National Assembly. I am normally the first to criticise MPs over their attitude to Legislative Competence Orders and indeed I am already on record as stating that their approach to the Welsh Language LCO is unusual and unworkable. However, to attack MPs personally ...
I need someone high up in the European Commission to bang heads together, so I go to the top. On Thursday I write an e-mail requesting a discussion with Catherine Day, the Secretary-General of the European Commission, the Brussels' bureaucrats' Number One. I get a reply saying that she is tied up in meetings till late Friday. Last thing I do before leaving my Stockport office at 5.30pm on Friday is to call her office. I can't remember the number so I look it up on the European Commission website. There are half a dozen numbers listed under the 'Secretariat ...
The Transition Towns movement began as an attempt by communities to work out for themselves how to address the twin problems of climate change and the end of cheap oil. Transitioners believe that life will be better - more local, more in touch with nature, more vibrant, less stressed, less chemical - after oil, and that we will be better prepared to deal with the challenges if we start working together now. A Transition Town initiative is a group of concerned individuals who use the Transition Model to come up with a vision of how to make their community more ...
sefton youth A great couple of hours today with young folk from Birkdale, Meols Cop, Litherland, Skelmersdale and Oldham youth clubs. Congratulations to evryone. I'll write up the full details later . If you 'click'on the photo you should get a slide show.
Firstly, apologies for falling behind. You know how it is, it takes time to read the papers, something else crops up, blah, blah, blah... Anyway, last week saw one of those rare Fridays where the Lords remains in session, doubtless preventing Lord Redesdale from getting home to continue his excellent work in preserving the red squirrel by killing every grey squirrel within the borders of Northumberland. But I digress... Business started with a statement from Baroness Royall, advising that additional time will be found to debate the Parliamentary Standards Bill, i.e. the bill that introduces the nanny state to Parliament. ...
Let's just say it, shall we? Environmentalism is incompatible with Capitalism. The UK's airline industry, already complaining that no other country has to tolerate an Air Passenger Duty, is desperate to avoid this tax going up. Curiously the Green Party and the Government have the same line on this: The Airline industry is 'undertaxed' (a sure sign they're about to be squeezed until the pips squeak), and that the taxes better reflect the 'environmental costs.' Now unless Whitehall has developed an Economics super computer the size of Australia, I don't believe for one second they have any clue whatsoever what ...
Today's the day! Nick Clegg takes to the Town Hall in cyberspace and you are invited. If you want to ask Nick a question, attack him, praise him - whatever! Go to http://www.tinyurl.com/asknickclegg for full information.
{Birmingham Blaze FC logo} Yesterday I had the honour of being one of the returning officers for the committee elections at the Birmingham Blaze FC AGM. I founded the club in 2005 with a kickabout on the site of the proposed Aquatics Centre by the Nelson School in Ladywood. From those tentative beginnings great things have happened. This season the club, chaired ably by Michael McCulley and managed by Fiona Washington, finished second in the GNL. The club was founded on the basis of inclusiveness with a "football for all" ethos. In the early days this ethos worked well, but ...
This week sees Big Brother celebrate it's tenth birthday - though it is only nine in my eyes (I didn't live in the UK during it's first year - which goes someway to explaining my love of it).
This evening, I hear fromToday, there's a programme looking at the number of paid politicians and political advisors. They've come up with a number around 29,000, many of whom are local councillors. Others are MPs, MEPs, MSP, Welsh Assembly members and all their staff and political advisors. The total cost comes in at around £500 million. The number doesn't surprise me. If anything, it's probably falling at the moment as many county, district and borough councils are abolished, to be replaced by unitaries. It's noted, though, how the councillors' allowances system is used to fund political parties on the sly ...
I have published my first attempt at a book review over at Freedom Central. Please treat it gently and read the book, it is very good. Next on my list is David Melding's 'Will Britain survive beyond 2020?' Don't expect a review of that anytime soon. I really am pushed for time at the moment.
{whitehall} The assumption goes that we must allocate budgets to departments according to what they 'need'. However, this results in those performing the worst being paid the most. The fact that the state is made up of individuals and cliques, often after power, influence and larger budgets, appears to be too often overlooked. The prevailing incentive is therefore for public bodies to allow bad outcomes, presumably up to the point where they would be penalised if the situation were to worsen any further. Despite the presence of excellent public servants, the market incentive to waste and run down a service ...
I had the opportunity to buy this book at Hay-on-Wye but decided not too, put off by the fact that it had a union jack on the cover and the idea that a discussion on what it was to be British would be dry and formulaic. I was wrong. Patrick Hannan starts with a quest to find out how constitutional and societal change has impinged upon our concept of Britishness and concludes that despite decades of immigration, devolution and membership of the European Union, Britain remains recognisably what it was 40 years ago. Hannan conducts his search through a tour ...
Not Nick Clegg, but Sir William Clegg. According to Wikipedia: Clegg was the leader of the Liberal group on Sheffield City Council from 1895. In his early years, he campaigned for the municipalization of the tramways in the city, and then for the construction of council housing in the city. He was able to ensure that an estate was built at Wincobank, and a project to build 400 houses was begun in 1909. He also acted as the major financier of the local Liberal group.Clegg was considered to be on the right of the Liberal Party and was associated with ...
Fresh and refreshed from the weekend, here's our picks for Monday morning. Two big news stories Two from the Guardian today: firstly most papers are leading with further details of the soldiers who died in the last few days with six new names and photos to illustrate – the photos serving as a stark reminder of how young so many of our uniformed personnel are. There's in-depth coverage of their service and the wider questions raised by the recent British deaths in Afghanistan, including, in the Telegraph, praise from high ranking military officials for Nick Clegg's contribution to the debate. ...
The Foreign Secretary has warned of the necessity to extend the war activities of UK forces in Afghanistan in order to save Britain. Thus he presents himself as a naive simpleton struggling to read, let alone master his brief. He goes on to point out that UK forces are trying to prevent Afghanistan from becoming [...]
[Scene opens on a restaurant] WAITER: Yes sir, what can I get you? CUSTOMER: Right, I would like a prawn salad, erm followed by, what sort of steak do you have? WAITER: I'm sorry sir. CUSTOMER: Sorry? WAITER: Yes sir, I think you may have misunderstood how it works here at the Democracy Diner. CUSTOMER: How it works? WAITER: Yes sir. CUSTOMER: So how does it work? WAITER: Well sir we have a number of menus that we ask you to look at. [He pulls out several menus that are each clearly many metres long. Each one is on different ...
If you've got a question for Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg then now's your chance: on Monday July 13th (1200 GMT). he'll be joining the Reuters UK team to take your questions live. And no subject is off limits. You'll be able to see the live videostream here and you can ask questions ahead of the event or respond during it by using Twitter (#askclegg) the 12 Seconds video service (nickclegg) or use this post's comment form below. (We'll also feature the highlights on the reuters uk news twitterstream.) Nick introduces the event below and, to kick off the discussion, ...
I found this by pure accident when in Kilburn (Brent) Police Station in Salusbury Road. It records the direct hit on the police station on 6th November 1940 during WWII. The plaque is up in the reception area and because it's inside (and free from the ravages of weather) it is in immaculate condition. The plaque records the death of 13 staff - 12 officers and one civillian - including a re-engaged pensioner police constable and is a great insight into the nature of the 'all-hands to the pump element of the war'. http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&tab=wl Note to self: need to ensure ...
Swifter, Higher, Stronger may well be the Olympic motto but who'd have thought that it would come from the boudoir's of an Olympic hopeful to fund his bid to get to the games. In New Zealand, where licenced prostitution is legal, Taekwondo hopeful Logan Campbell is running a brothel as a way to fund his return to the games in London 2012. Probably a little closer to some of the ancient Greek original's practice than Baron Pierre de Coubertin envisaged when he restored the Olympic movement in 1896.
Those of us who quite like the idea of anarchism, or to use a word I've heard used more frequently recently and which rather neatly it seems to me gets round the inevitable comparison with bomb throwing revolutionaries, Spanish priest killers or G20 violent-left credentialed academics when unsympathetic folk hear the "hot button" word "anarchy", "voluntarism", are frequently goaded with taunts such as "look at Somalia, look at how great your ideal of anarchism is doing there (not)! Explain that if you think anarchism is such a great alternative.". Or even "why don't you go live in Mogadishu if you ...
Graham Watson MEP (Lib Dem, South West England) has withdrawn from the race to be President (i.e. Chairman) of the new Parliament. The Centre-Right and Socialists have made a deal to rotate the Presidency between their two parties, which effectively locked out the chance that Graham or anyone else may have had. The new President will be [...]
I'm organising fringe events for the Liberal Democrat European Group at the Party Conference in Bournemouth in September. At the Spring Conference, we held a very well attended pre-election rally. With the election over, our fringe events will take a panel discussion format and can be about anything at all. One event will be a discussion on what the EU can achieve at [...]
On Saturday Caroline Cheyne, Colin Ross, Shaheena and I went to Cannon Hill Park in Birmingham for Taste of Birmingham 2009.
