The garden at the Chelsea Arts Club was very Delhi this evening (apart from the temperature). Indian musicians on sitar and tabla created a soothing ambience as well over a hundred people tucked into the buffet prepared by Jatin Das, the Orissa-born painter whose drawings currently line the interior walls of the large bar in the club premises in Old [...]
Nick Clegg received hundreds of questions yesterday during his "Ask Clegg" event with Reuters. It was an online version of the Lib Dem leader's Town Hall meetings, where members of the public were invited to ask Nick any question they liked. These were received in a variety of ways, including via the Reuters website, on Twitter and even from Christian Payne (aka @Documentally) in the back of a London cab: Lynne Featherstone was fielding questions from Lib Dem grassroots members, from the HQ at Cowley St, and has written about it on her blog. Jo Swinson was interviewed on her ...
For the first time in many months, there is an air of optimism among Liberal Democrats, fuelled by Labour's continued dismal opinion poll ratings and the Tories inability to seal the deal. If the Tories are unable to get above the 40% level, Liberal Democrat MPs defending seats from the Tory challenge will feel competitive, while candidates like Ed Fordham in Hampstead will be growing in confidence that Labour seats are there for the taking. Despite this, I remain pessimistic about the Party's prospects, although I accept the Party's fortunes have improved since the MPs expense row. Although Cameron has ...
I was in Gateshead Civic Centre this morning to attend Cabinet and bumped into a senior member of the Gateshead Labour party. To spare him his blushes, I will not mention his name! He was talking about his villas in Spain. "How interesting it is to see a socialist engaging in the world of the multiple home owning democracy, even if the homes are abroad!" I joked."Former socialist," he corrected
Labour's second Freepost leaflet is doing the rounds. This is their 4th leaflet in total, but only two of those have actually been delivered by hand (with only one going out in Taverham). This leaflet is, quite astonishingly, only A5 in size. Have Labour got that little to say that they are now shrinking the szie of their leaflet ?
Another day, another offical report telling us what we already know: that between them the Labour government and the Labour-run Council are failing to sort out anti-social behaviour in Reading. Today we read that Reading is one of the 16 worst places in the UK for anti-social behaviour. The Home Office announced yesterday that government 'ASB Action Squads' will be sent to Reading as one of the areas of the country where anti-social behaviour is not being tackled well enough. This intervention will be highly embarassing for Labour politicians in Reading who like to claim that crime is falling and problems are ...
Er.....A weekly article for the Telegraph, that is. From the BBC's Hard Talk: It's chicken feed. I think that frankly there's absolutely no reason at all why I should not knock off an article as a way of relaxation. I write anyway, I happen to write extremely fast. I don't see why on a Sunday morning I shouldn't knock off an article - if someone wants to pay me for that article then that's their lookout and of course I make a substantial donation to charity. (By the way, let's ignore that 'ooh missus' "way of relaxation"/"knocking off...an article" reference ...
Our roads are a national disgrace. Potholes alone cost British drivers a staggering £1million in repairs every single day And guess what it's the Daily Express not Salford Council pity? Look it's all a con there not real check a pot hole near you tommorow.. Only joking
On Wednesday evening the South of the Borough Neighbourhood Committee will be discussing the planning application from Lidl. They want to build a store and 12 flats on 62-74 Leatherhead Road. This is the site previously occupied by Fleetwood Fengate, plus four houses next to it. You can recognise the site because it is currently fenced off. This is the second application we have had...
By Jason Beattie 14/07/2009 Laws forcing people to retire at the age of 65 could be scrapped within a year. Ministers announced yesterday they want to axe the compulsory retirement age as soon as possible. They say recession and the soaring elderly population mean more people want to work longer. Currently more than 1.3 million over 65s [...]
I have it on good authority that the Tory candidate in Norwich North was not going to go to the hustings held in Norwich tonight. Then, when it was known that Reuters and The Mail on Sunday were going to be there, suddenly the Tories were less busy than they thought and did attend. The funny thing was only three people turned up for the hustings so the three members of the public were interviews by the press.
I have just heard a newsreader on Radio Five Live say something like: Despite having an injection in his injured knee, England coach Andy Flower is confident that Andy Flintoff will be fit for the second test.
Back in 2005 the Labour Party published a document attacking 100 (alleged) spending commitments the Liberal Democrats had made, including one which accurately quoted Vince Cable from his website: Twickenham has one of the best bee keeping centres in the country. Many local people support it. Benefits from bees' natural pollination activities are enormous, worth billions of pounds. There is however negligible research into damaging diseases and I have pressed the ministry of agriculture for a bigger research commitment. Oh, how Labour laughed back then at the absurdity of the idea that money should be spent on hard working bees ...
I wanted, today, to finally do my European Election aftermath post that was delayed by lack of net access, inspired by this month's Liberator (now with 100% more unfair attacks on Alix Mortimer! Very odd, that bit...) but my head's battered today, so I'm going to give you some links and watch a Doctor Who [...]
Boris Johnson is soooooo out of touch with the people he represents, or sort of represents. I still retain a small interest in London as I ran Brian Paddick's Mayoral campaign for the Liberal Democrats, and am still angered by some of the silly claims made by others during that election. Now we have a Mayor who thinks £250,000 per year is chicken feed, get a grip Boris, for crying out loud, get yourself out of City Hall and go and visit some of the voters in the inner London Boroughs (not the Tory Boroughs) who earn around £16,000 per ...
The Independent candidate Bill Holden put out a leaflet last week in Norwich North. Unfortunatly the copy of the leaflet I got was not that good and the version I put on this website was not readable. Having searched his site I thought it only fair to display a higher quality version of his leaflet so people can actually read it.
Aid agencies have attacked a 'Green Paper' on International Development issued by the Conservative Party yesterday, with some saying it could increase the dependency on aid of the world's poor. Entitled 'One World Conservatism' it was branded a "disappointment" by one agency, said to have "glaring omissions" and "blind spots" by others while one even said it risked worsening the impact of the financial crisis on the world's poor. "This green paper is a disappointment for anyone looking for fresh thinking in response to the financial crisis. Instead of questioning the policies that have led to the crisis, the Conservatives ...
{Norman Power Centre, Ladywood} Today I joined representatives from the Ladywood Project, Spring Hill Library, the Oratory School and Pisces WM at the Norman Power Centre for the latest steering meeting of the Cardinal Newman Community Project. The project will, pending funding, examine the impact of Cardinal Newman and his work on the community of Ladywood over the years. This will involve examining historical records, interviewing elderly members of the community and involving children from the Oratory school. The work will be displayed in various exhibition spaces and a DVD will be produced to record the work for future generations ...
The GOATs they went out two by two, hurrah! hurrah!The GOATs they went out two by two, hurrah! hurrah!The GOATs they went out two by two, they really mustn't have had much to do,And they all went into the street, for to get rid of the pain. The GOATs they went out three by three, hurrah! hurrah!The GOATs they went out three by three, hurrah! hurrah!The GOATs they went out three by three, can you really blame poor Lord Darzi?And they all went into the street, for to get rid of the pain. The GOATs they went out four by ...
Today I attended an event in which you could ask the FCO any questions about terrorism and the policy of the government on the issue. The civil servants that were present allowed people to rant and rave at them and tried to answer most questions. I pointed out that education in the Muslim Community should become the prime strategic plan of the government to teach the youth that terrorism has no place in Islam and in British life and that terrorists are murders and they are not martyrs. The people from the FCO claimed that the government was working on ...
A second day at Bonkers Hall. Tuesday Here in Rutland we always had our own currency, but the idea has been slow to catch on elsewhere despite the spirited advocacy of our own David Boyle. A few months ago, finding him rather depressed at this slow progress, I suggested to Boyle that he should go on the electric television to spread the word; I recall handing him a cutting about a new show called Britain's Got Talent. The rest, gentle reader, is history. Though the studio audience was at first hostile, Boyle won them over with his oratory. Then the ...
Tue 14th
20:20
NEW POLL: should Radio 4's Thought for the Day be opened up to secularists and humanists?
Okay, so there are more important issues of the day to discuss, even in the quietest and slowest of July days - but, somehow, the totemic importance of the three-minute slot at 7.50 am on BBC Radio 4's The Today Programme never fails to spark a heated debate. For those of you who don't tune in, this is the slot dedicated to religious messages: it's mainly Christian speakers, but representatives from all faiths get their chance. Radio 4's controller Mark Damazar has set the cat among the pigeons by speculating there "may well be quite a strong argument for including ...
Who is this young child with high heels on trying to make her self look bigger~? Things don't change much in 40 years! Clues She is not very big. Likes motor bikes And she hates paying tax. Any idea???
Tue 14th
19:39
Fantastic story from the Salford Star,This again shows why we should support this mag. ps how come w...
CHEK WHYTE THIRTY MILLION POUND DEBT A Salford Star Exclusive Star Date: 13th July 2009 `The only cheek Chek Whyte's turned is his backside to us and Salford.' HELL FOR LOCAL BUILDERS AS SECRET MILLIONAIRE OWES THOUSANDS FROM SALFORD CHURCH PROJECT... Chek Whyte rode into Salford in 2007 as the Secret Millionaire, promising good deeds, even `rescuing' [...]
It's clearly the prevailing view amongst Labour MPs in England that Scotland gets enough Government money or "shed loads" as Rob Marris, MP for Wolverhampton South West, put it today in Treasury Questions. If it were true I could take the criticism from him, but it's not. Scotland doesn't get shed loads just a fair share considering our circumstances. However, we need to reform the Barnett formula with a system that reflects the needs of different parts of the UK. We also need a new funding arrangement for the Scottish Parliament that includes raising more of our own money. But ...
Recently I have been starting to wonder what the point of this government carrying on is. We are now less than a year away from a general election. An election, which if the opinion polls are to be believed, Labour will lose and lose badly. The Prime Minister, along with every other senior and junior government minister are unlikely to be in post on 14th July 2010. It is through this prism that I am now starting to view government announcements. The nature of government is such that when measures are announced, that is just the starting point. There will ...
Three weeks after the Tories tried to sneak out the announcement that they had formed a new right-wing European parliamentary grouping made up of some of Europe's more, erm, eccentric and extreme characters comes news of the first Tory casualty – ConservativeHome's Tim Montgomerie tweets: Edward Macmillan-Scott MEP expelled from Cons Party for disobeying instructions from new EP grouping on elections for VP of Parliament The news doesn't come as a complete shock – on 25 June, Mr McMillan-Scott voiced "real concerns" about the Tories' new Euro friends, commenting: Despite what David Cameron has said there are already indications that ...
The official line may be 'no comment' but the current actions of West Lothian council speak louder than any words and especially those two. Anybody who was present at the recent meeting to look at how to save Livingston FC (that excludes council officials and councillors who did not attend for legal reasons) know just what a grim state the books are in. The Council may publicly state their intention to do all they can to retain senior football at Almondvale but to turn down any hope of an alternative deal doesn't seem like the way to go about it. ...
We have always had a rope swing in our garden. Our children's friends love it. Unfortunately squirrels also seem to have a taste for jute and so every so often the rope comes down, as here. I am prompted to record this, having just learned the origin of the phrase "Money for old rope". It comes from ships rigging - particularly from the Napoleonic Wars - being used to make paper. I learned this fascinating nugget of information at The Paper Trail at Apsley next to Hemel Hempstead - just outside the St Albans constituency boundaries. Frogmore Mill on the ...
Honestly, BBC Five Live's Norwich North by-election special has been absolutely DIRE. Even allowing for its inherent bias (though the completely irrelevant interview with High Peak Labour lickspittle Tom Levitt regarding his incipient career as a stand-up comedian was far funnier than Mr Levitt's slavish voting record), it has been apparent that the research was slipshod and the execution lazy. Since when was Martin Bell ever on the LibDem shortlist for Norwich North, or anywhere else for that matter? And what was with the interview with the students' union wallahs? UEA is in Norwich South, last I looked, and most ...
One of those lovely "we're shocked...no really, we are...aren't you?" stories in the Daily Mail today. It would appear that a large swingers' party was held at a stately home, with an Eyes Wide Shut theme. So far, so outrageous. People having sex with other people at a private party and...get this...sometimes they weren't even married to their all-too-brief sexual partners. It's the end of civilisation, I tell you. Carry on like this and we become no better than animals. Unfortunately, the house's owner doesn't seem to have had advance notice of the sausage-hiding antics planned for the midnight hour ...
Over at The Guardian, Lib Dem shadow home secretary Chris Huhne argues that fresh evidence in the News of the World hacking scandal should compel the Met to re-open its inquiry. Here's an excerpt: The surveillance state has rightly become a matter of great public concern, which is why the Guardian's scoop that the use of private investigators who phone hacked was apparently widespread on the News of the World was so sensational. This is not something that can be brushed aside, because it strikes at the heart of the privacy any individual can expect in a civilised society. If ...
I was going to attend the Bracknell Town Centre Regeneration Committee meeting held on Monday 13th July 09 as I am very interested in the progress of Regeneration in Bracknell. But after looking on the council meetings web site I realised that the main part of business for this meeting was excluded (item 6) under Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. I know that when commercial contracts are involved certain parties or contractual obligations have to be confidential but does all the important business need to be confidential. I examined other meetings that evoked the Local Government Act ...
I'm attempting to ascertain the value of all this internet monitoring that the Government is sponsoring. A constituent and expert has told its ineffective and therefore a waste of money. Here's the answers to the questions I have posed. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I should approach this issue? ZDNET UK News Website has covered the issue.
{C_67_article_2050804_body_articleblock_0_bodyimage} The Kings Tavern, which has been a source of agony to local residents, have applied for two Temporary Event Notices (TEN) to be held on 31st July 2009 and 1st August 2009. This entitles them to hold special events and stay open late (in some cases).Their application states they will be able to sell alcohol from 1800 to 2300 and the events can have a maximum of 50 people present. I find it very strange that a pub with such a terrible reputation (especially when it comes to these sorts of events) and which has had a suspended license ...
Reading today that eighteen year old Rifleman James Backhouse was about to return home when he was one of the five soldiers killed in Helmand Province on Friday cast my mind off to Wilfred Owen. Owen the First World War soldier and poet was killed in the Battle of Sambre on 4 November 1918, a week later that war ended on Armistice Day. Of course Rifleman Backhouse and other nine in the last fortnight who have lost their lives may not have been reaching the end of their days of war. At eighteen if he'd survived he would have faced ...
Maybe I'm more of a geek than I'd like to admit - well, I'm the sort that likes gadgets but without the knowledge to always make them work - because I am uncommonly excited with my new Blackberry which arrived today. I was due for an upgrade and decided that I really needed to be able to connect myself to the hive mind at all times, and if I could get on Facebook and Twitter without using the laptop, then that would probably make my family quite happy! It ended up not being that much more expensive. I was surprised ...
Not yet, but more signs of those green shoots today with the news that investment banks are returning to profit and paying big bonuses again. The quicker city bankers start buying booze, strippers, fast cars and real estate, the quicker we return to growth. And for all those whinging lefties, remember bank profits mean hundreds of millions in tax for the government and those pet projects. Everyone's a winner!
Unlike a number of the others who have done this meme (Caron, Mr Quist and originator Irfan) I wasn't a signed up member of a political party at the age of 17. Maybe that was my naivety, maybe that was just an abhorrence to the political landscape around me.I turned 17 in 1986 and at the time I just couldn't fathom how the Unionist parties could attack Westminster for lack of attention to Northern Ireland's needs with one breathe and at the same time draw away from working with the Republic of Ireland which at that was starting to go ...
Andrew Lansley, the Shadow Health Secretary, was on the Today programme and John Humphrys actually asked the right question - initially. Lansley came on to escoriate the government over its failings but Humphrys asked him what the Tories would do. Lansley tried to continue with his line of attack but, astoundingly, Humphreys brought him back a few times. Sadly it didn't last long as they got into the silly politician vs. interviewer spat which the Today programme is famed for but it was still a remarkable departure. It was actually informative and relevant. Now all we need is for Ramblign ...
Today is 25 Messidor, or Bastille Day in the old calendar, and one of the week's most gripping pieces of TV was Saturday's part-documentary, part-drama on the Reign of Terror. Spend your evening watching Terror! Robespierre and the French Revolution on BBC iPlayer (or tomorrow night at 1.30 am, signed on BBC1), but have lots of chocolate to hand. Or, if you want a bit of politics but the lessons to learn for today from mass-murdering tyrannies are a bit heavy for a weekday evening, why not explode homeopathy with Mitchell and Webb? Or just have some nourishing Triffids with ...
Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com in Housing Tuesday 14th July 2009 – 8:53am Government scheme to kick-start mortgage market 'doomed to fail' A key Government scheme to kick-start the mortgage market is not working, MPs said today. The Communities and Local Government (CLG) Select Committee said in its current form the £50 billion asset-backed guarantee scheme (ABS) [...]
And i bet there is no more than a dozen fron Salford....
What is all the fuss about helicopters in Afghanistan? Well for one thing the hugely expensive British-made Lynx helicopters can't fly in a hot climate at high altitude. Basic physics about warmer air ... a distressing number of British built helicopters can only hover at sea level in temperate latitudes. Some good references on all this on a blog called 'Defence of the Realm' which I've just found. We reported in detail on the unhappy experiences of the Lynx in April 2007, when we had discovered that, not only were the baseline costs per hour of operating Lynx Mk7s a ...
At the Council meeting last week I proposed a motion about the threatened closure of the serious burns unit at Whiston Hospital. The motion was passed. It was actually proposed not just by me but by colleagues including Flo Clucas, Barbara Mace, Colin Eldridge and Paul Twigger (although the printed minutes only show my name for some reason) I am pasting the extract from the minutes below. The material from the Council meeting also includes the report of the Liverpool Commission. This will all now be available at www.liverpool.gov.uk Motion by Councillor Paula Keaveney: Council notes with alarm the proposal ...
It's funny all the versions and no one could tell me which one fits all sizes. I was born into a family of Labour supporters i canvassed on a regular basis and was a card carrying member for many years.But that was old Labour and now we have new. I joined the Liberal Democrats about four [...]
Bath is gearing up for the arrival of Mary Wilson to open the The Story of The Supremes From the Mary Wilson Collection, a V&A exhibition in collaboration with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. The exhibition will run from 25 July - 31 August at the Bath & North East Somerset Council-run Assembly Rooms in Bath. On Saturday 25 July, Mary Wilson, co-founder...
The Lib Dem Federal Executive met last night. The contents of the meeting will (if they have any sense) be made public in double quick time. This will be a big test for the group AND for its chair Ros Scott. Will this have been (1) a useless talking shop about do-nothing-unimportant side issues - or will they have (2) tackled the serious and important issues facing this party regarding expenses & allowances ? I am of course, expecting clarification on what is happening with regard to the Lord Rennard, who was/is the Party's Chief Executive - employed by the ...
I have said my piece about what the party owes Chris Rennard here:The Fox puts away his Cow GumLast night I was at the Lib Dem Federal Executive, when the new interim Chief Executive Chris Fox started in the job. It is slightly ironic that I had done teh word play on Chris Rennard's name, for him to be replaced with Chris Fox.Some people have reservations about Chris Fox, and his past as Chair of
Andrew Gilligan in the Evening Standard reports (excerpts below, full story here):Police have questioned Boris Johnson's chief of staff, Sir Simon Milton, and his chief spin-doctor, Guto Harri, as part of their investigation into the Mayor's former deputy, Ian Clement...He has been accused of taking Ms Dowson on a hotel stay in Europe at public expense and of misusing a corporate credit card
Not a lot to say about Children of Earth. Except I was glued to it for 5 hours. OK some of it stretched credibility too far, like the yellow digger thing carrying the large block of concrete containing Captain Jack at speed. But 5 hours of top, edge of seat, prime time scifi. You betcha (to quote Sarah Palin)
Every time that David "call me Dave" Cameron tries to claim that the Tories have changed (!) along comes a new scandal to bite him on the bum. Lord Ashcroft, deputy party chairman is a "non-dom" who has bankrolled Tory candidates in marginal constituencies (like Keighley) to the tune of thousands of pounds. When he was ennobled in 2000, Ashcroft assured us all that he would start to pay UK taxes, but refuses to confirm that this is so. Like most people, I think that Fat Cat Tory donors must pay their dues to the country before they pay their ...
I had always thought that among my occassional music posts, Eddie and the Hot Rods "Do Anything You Wanna Do" had to be one of them. But Jonathan Calder beat me to it.As I said in the comments on Jonathan's Liberal England:I saw them at the Marquee in their week long residency the week before Reading '77 and then at Reading. When the Island Story came out about 15 years ago I bought the vinyl
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, ...
After a bit of an enforced break from blogging. My first catch up is on the British and Irish Lions test matches against South Africa.I hate claiming moral victories, when the score line says something different. But in this case it is vindicated. The referee in the first match may aswell have worn a Springboks shirt.The scrum decisions were appalling (though we should have blood subbed Vickery
It is good to see the Daily Post is putting it's neck on the bloc and making predictions about the General Election. According to their political correspondent's blog the only gains that the Tories are likely to make in Merseyside are on the Wirral...........
As today's Times reports: Google's Street View service got off to a bumpy start in the UK as privacy campaigners tried to block Google's car-mounted cameras from photographing Britain's streets. Now, Google is heading off the beaten track. The internet company has loaded its 3-D Street View cameras on to rickshaw-style tricycles in an effort to capture national landmarks, monuments and sights that cannot be viewed from a car. The pictures will form part of Street View, a mapping service from Google that gives 360-degree views of the country's biggest cities, allowing people to take virtual tours from their computers ...
I did the how hetero are you? twitter test. I came out at 48% hetero, which is 6% gayer than Stephen Fry. Result! I wonder what the girls who told Mat and I off for filthy heterosexual kissing in the pub would get? {48% Hetero} miss_s_b is 48% HeteroHow hetero are you? How hetero is Martha Stewart? Try out any Twitter name and get the real picture. Are we really the words we use? Anyway, this brings me to a slightly more important bit of news. Lovely {[info - livejournal.com] } burlesque_bunny has agreed to cover my shift on the ...
The current controversy about the £700,000 spent by civil servants on credit cards last year reminds me of an old story about overseas travel at a time when the WDA was still in existence. In a previous government it is reputed that a Cabinet Minister accompanied WDA officials on a trip to the USA. The Minister in question left it to the WDA officials to make the arrangements only to discover that the officials in question were in first class whilst the Minister was required to travel economy. I do not think that the Minister concerned was very amused.
As the Telegraph reports: Lord Ashcroft, the major Conservative donor, will be forced to reveal whether he pays tax or stop funding the party, under new election rules. The move is seen as a direct attack on the peer, a Tory deputy party chairman who has bankrolled Conservative candidates in marginal constituencies to the outrage of opposition politicians. On being made a Conservative peer in 2000, Lord Ashcroft gave an assurance that he would pay UK taxes, but has since refused to discuss his affairs saying that they are private. ... The amendment, which was nodded through without a vote ...
The BBC posted a story yesterday about cats that will not surprise anybody who shares their home with a feline friend. Apparently, researchers at the University of Sussex have discovered that cats use a "soliciting purr" to overpower their owners and garner attention and food. Unlike regular purring, this sound incorporates a "cry", with a similar frequency to a human baby's. The team said cats have "tapped into" a human bias - producing a sound that humans find very difficult to ignore. And I thought my cat was just pleased to see me this morning. Hat Tip to Jonathan Calder ...
{Ming Campbell} North East Fife MP Sir Menzies Campbell has welcomed the news that at the disbandment ceremony for 43 Squadron at RAF Leuchars Air Chief Marshal Sir Roger Palin indicated that the "Fighting Cocks" will be reformed when the Eurofighter Typhoon is introduced later in the year. Sir Menzies has been campaigning for one of the new Eurofighter squadrons to be given the 43 designation in order to protect 43's proud heritage. Sir Menzies said: "Sir Roger Palin's optimism that 43 squadron will be reformed with the Eurofighter Typhoon is indeed welcome. "This squadron with its Scottish connection has ...
Yesterday's business started with tributes from all five benches following the death of Lord Kingsland on Sunday, a man clearly highly rated on all sides, even when they were in opposition to the thrust of his argument. Described as a lawyer's lawyer and a parliamentarian's parliamentarian, one senior Peer described him as one of the intellectual powerhouses of the Conservative benches. The Government then went on to announce its intention to ratify the Dublin Convention on Cluster Munitions, whereby the United Kingdom will cease to hold stocks. Currently, in anticipation of ratification, their use has been abandoned and they are ...
What has happened? On June 30th, Alan Johnson announced that ID cards would be voluntary for British citizens. This meant the ditching of a scheme that would have made it compulsory for airport staff and pilots at Manchester and London City airports to have them, as part of the ID cards trial.Previously, the Govt said they would be compulsory once 80% of the population had them.Johnson was also forced to admit that the Govt had previously wrongly presented ID cards as a 'panacea' for terrorism.Johnson did say he remained a supporter of ID cards and that the Govt was accelerating ...
On Sunday evening I went to see Bruno with Mat and Dean. I was concerned it would'nt be that funny (I didn't rate Borat too highly) and the best bits were in the trailer. Well I was wrong it was very very funny and some of the best bits aren't in the trailer.
Nick Clegg, Leader of the Liberal Democrats yesterday 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...
Such hospitality – it's astounding! Not only did Asset Co treat Brian Coleman (London Assembly Member and Chair of the London Fire Authority) to three dinners and a Harvey Nicks hamper before the LFA awarded it a £12 million contract – but also Mayor Boris Johnson continues to give him house room at City Hall. After his huge taxi bills and refusal to publish his expenses at the same time as the other Assembly Members, Coleman has outstayed London's welcome – but when will Boris do something about it? Adam Bienkov at Tory Troll has the story: The London Fire ...
We have one new planning application this week and to be quite frank even I am not quite sure where this one is so I will need to take a look. The application is for the erection of wall to front of dwelling at 11 High Street Twerton Bath. If you want to view this application or make any comments then please follow this link HERE
The BNP took up their seats in the European Parliament today
{afghanistan} According to our 'friend' Dave at the Foreign office the reason we're fighting a war in Afghanistan is to keep us safe at home. He said to the nice people at GMTV... "This is a mission that's been developed with a very clear strategy: above all, to make us safer here because we know these areas of Afghanistan and its neighbour Pakistan are used to launch terrorism around the world." There are two reasons why the above opinion is abject nonsense. The first point to consider is, what is the actual threat posed by Islamic terrorism to Britain? According ...
I'm not exactly a friend of the BNP - I wouldn't be allowed to join, for example. However, as I've noted in the past, simply calling them fascists and throwing one's hands up in disgust does nothing to address the question of why people vote for them. Some of their support certainly comes from racists, but I'm yet to be convinced that all, or even most, of their supporters think of themselves as racists. Many of their voters feel neglected and frustrated and the BNP appeal to that sense where they work. On the other hand, they stand for some ...
After I predicted the outcome of the general election on PB and in a previous blog post I got challenged by someone to a bet and the story began. As agreed in the early hours of today morning (yes 9:00 is early) I and a "Fluffy Thoughts" have done a deal on the outcome of the next general election. The deal is: I shall give a donation to PB if Fluffy Thoughts is right about the following: + The Tories will get more then 40% + Labour will flounder under 29%, and + The LibDems will fail the 20% mark ...
{chamber-pmqs1} Questioning the Secretary of State for Defence Bob Ainsworth yesterday, North East Fife MP Sir Menzies Campbell called for a comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan. Sir Menzies said: "No one denies that these are difficult and dangerous operations, but that does not absolve us of the responsibility to do everything in our power to minimise casualties. "The fundamental problem for the Government is the fact that there is no comprehensive strategy to deal with the military, political, economic and narcotics issues. Until a comprehensive strategy is agreed and implemented we will continue to struggle in Afghanistan." Speaking afterwards Sir Menzies ...
When it comes to technology, the BBC frequently gives up any idea of journalism in favour of simply promoting the latest product from private companies. The latest example is a piece of pseudo-news about children accessing naughty pictures at school. According to the article, there are lots of images getting through traditional child-safe Internet filters, where the filtering is on key words or known dodgy sites. The problem is that the whole piece is just a promotion for a particular company, E-Safe Education. Had the good people of E-Safe gone to the BBC and said, honestly "We've got this good ...
My colleague Caroline Pidgeon, who chairs the GLA Transport Committee, wants to know your views on how overcrowding and line closures affect your tube journeys. As the Committee's brief asks, What impact do overcrowding and line closures have on passenger journeys, and on other modes of transport? How satisfactory are the alternative travel arrangements on [...]
Back to the fray as we had our first Sittingbourne Lib Dem meeting since the county council elections. This time to talk tactics regarding 2010 - when 16 of Swale's 47 council seats are up for grabs. We are defending one while the Tories are defending 11 and Labour hanging on to four. The Conservatives will be hoping to increase their current majority of nine. One complicating factor is that these elections may be the same day as a general election which will mean a higher turnout and that voters will have national issues more in mind. On the other ...
It is a measure of the suspension of the normal rules of judgement when it comes to Israel that the governments decision to cancel 5 out of 182 arms export licences to concerning spare parts for the Israeli Navy is worthy of some truly sensationalist reporting saying Britain is now 'embargoing' Israel. If only that [...]
When I was on the front bench listening to the Prime Minister's statement and wanting to get called to ask my 'helicopter' question - I thought I would carry out a little experiment to see if Speaker Bercow was going to get rid of silly rules. Under Speaker Martin - and probably legions before him - LibDem frontbenchers who want to get called to ask a question have to go and sit in the second row - as until now we have only been allowed one speaker from the front bench - and that is obviously the opposite number to ...
to be continued......
Gordon Brown in his statement to the Commons on the G8 - which was mostly about Afghanistan - re-iterated the same exact statistics on helicopters that Harriet gave at PMQs. He said that we had increased them 60% in the last two years as well as increasing the flying time capability. Many members referred to the need for helicopters - but the Prime Minister just repeated the mantra again. I managed to get called myself to ask him what percentage of that 60% increase were helicopters that can transport troops. Once again he re-iterated the figures he had now given ...
Bath MP Don Foster has today written to Multi, the company behind the Southgate development, encouraging them to push the idea of a post office within the new centre. Although Post Office Ltd themselves are unlikely to purchase a unit, other stores are able to host a post office counter. Following the closure of the old Southgate post office, the main branch in town is now very...
Today is Bastille Day, and I am celebrating as ever. I've just bought a croissant and the coffee pot is on the boil, I've even treated myself to a copy of Libé, well a couple of pages off the Libération webpage. Anyway I digress. I ...
After the passing of the controversial Irish blasphemy law, which potentially could put severe restrictions on freedom of speech, Atheist Ireland held a particularly well timed AGM on Saturday which was reported in the Irish Times. I thnk it's quite impressive for them to have got 150 people out on a Saturday afternoon in the middle of Summer. They had a message of support from Richard Dawkins - no surprises there, really and were addressed by a Labour Senator Ivana Bacik who said that she reckoned she was the only "out" atheist in the entire Parliament. Their next step is ...
Of all my articles once published on Outpost Gallifrey, this, from 2004, is the one that anybody read. The amazing Jennie quoted it before we met; a US Republican sent me a vitriolic e-mail; Liberator published an alternative version... So, before this link disappears forever, here it is. "2003 sees an important anniversary for a great British institution. It has inspired countless young people to stand up against conformity, bigotry and oppression. It has fostered individual liberty, internationalism and human creativity. "But as well as being the fortieth anniversary of Doctor Who, it's also the centenary of the Young Liberals." ...
Many are hesitating what to predict as being the outcome of the next general election but I think I am in a position to give some information if not a full prediction. I pretty much bet my socks on Parliament being hung at the next general election and with both parties Labour and the Tories turning to the Lib Dems for support but the question is still will Nick support them or who will he support? Apart from that I have already today predicted on Political Betting that the outcome will have the following rough percentages of vote for each ...
{Binary digits} Not only is illegal file-sharing on the decline in Britain, but the biggest fall has taken place amongst teenagers. That's the intriguing finding in an opinion poll from The Leading Question, who interviewed 1,000 music fans with broadband access and mobile phones, aged 14-64 in the UK face-to-face in January this year. The opinion poll reports that: The overall percentage of music fans file-sharing regularly (i.e. every month) has gone down since the last national survey. In December 2007 22% regularly fileshared tracks, but in January 2009 this was down to 17%... The biggest drop in those regularly ...
Cross-posted from The Wardman Wire: With only around 1.5% of the population having access to the internet, it may look as if the role for online campaigning in the next Afghanistani Presidential election is rather limited. At least one candidate though is hoping to demonstrate otherwise in the run-up to voting on 20 August, with a second round if necessary about six weeks later. That candidate is Ashraf Ghani, who is seen as one of the main possible challengers to the incumbent, President Hamid Karzai. He was previously Karzai's finance minister. Ghani has recently launched his multilingual website at http://ashrafghani.af/along ...
I do actually remember the days when I'd say, "The Government should stop people from doing X" and think, you know, the people who want to do X? They're scum, aren't they? Who cares what they think? Sure a lot of people won't like it, but the greater good will be served. I used to think like that. Over time, however, as I found myself more and more in the 'X' category at the hands of this Government, I began to become more and more uneasy about this sort of thing. Who am I to impose anything on anyone? What ...
The latest ICM poll in the Guardian shows an entirely predictable drop in support for others and an increase in support for the big three parties, as memories of the Euro elections fade. So far, so expected. What might make Gordon Brown a little nervous is Labour's apparent failure to benefit. As voters drift away from UKIP, the BNP and the Greens, it's the Lib Dems and Tories who are seeing the benefits. Conservatives: 41% (+2) Labour: 27% (no change) Lib Dem: 20% (+2) Others: 12% (-3) Just one poll, so we'll see if a trend develops. Gordon is considering ...
I've been tagged by Mr Quist in the meme about what you had done politically by 17. I managed to have my 17th birthday in Thatcher's not Orwell's 1984. I already hear you sigh, saying "Oh god, she's going to tell you the detention story again". It's ok, I'm not, but I can't pretend it didn't happen. If you are one of the few who have no idea what I'm talking about it, look here. I'd also written a huge amount of envelopes for election addresses in the days before you could print labels. Of course, once we had the ...
Every now and again you come across a blog post that has everything. Lucky finds - I love 'em. No such happy happenstance for Alexa Longueira, 15, who fell down an open sewer cover in New York while texting on her mobile phone. Workers had removed the cover before going back to their truck to get cones to put around the hole. From POPFi: The sewer is a horrifying/fascinating place. On one hand, everything we flush down the toilet ends up there, which makes the sewer horrible and gross. On the other hand, everything anyone else flushes down the toilet ...
In Richard Deacon's The Private Life of Mr Gladstone from 1965 we catch a glimpse of William Henry Gladstone, who went to school at Geddington: In the late 'forties Mrs Gladstone, who was a great favourite of the Queen, sometimes took her children, Willy and Agnes, to Windsor Castle, and the Queen told Gladstone later that "their frank demeanour and childish pranks" made her "laugh heartily".There was a favourite of Queen Victoria in my family too.
Paul Burgin is writes a popular blog "Mars Hill", is press officer for the North East Herts Labour Party and once worked for Geraint Davies, when he was MP for Croydon Central. He recently asked me to contribute to his regular "Twenty Questions to a Fellow Blogger" feature. You can read my responses by clicking on the headline above.
There are days that no matter which part of the UK you come from you hid your head in shame. For the English there are football and cricketing failures. For the Scots the general, annual malaise in most sports. But for the Northern Irish is usually comes some time in July as regular as clockwork. Yesterday evening as the news started to break through of the annual trouble surrounding the marching I was wondering how bad can it get. Being somewhat closeted over in Scotland I went to bed hoping against hope once more that full scale civil unrest or ...
The Welsh Assembly Government is introducing its Local Government Legislative Competence Order today. They are seeking to draw down quite specific powers to legislate on areas that include community councils (their constitution, structure, procedures, capability and service delivery), community reviews, the relations between tiers of local government, councillor allowances and the recruitment and retention of councillors. It is not clear as yet whether these powers would facilitate the much threatened reorganisation of local government but there are two clear exceptions that appear to have been put for ideological reasons. Apparently the Welsh Government do not want to acquire the power ...
Information the Welsh Liberal Democrats and I have obtained under the Freedom of Information Act has revealed a culture of shocking spending excess within the Labour-Plaid Government's International offices. The figures show that 34 WAG credit card holders, working in offices around the world on behalf of the Welsh taxpayer, spent a total of £718,434.17 over the past 12 months. The New York Office alone spent some £253,114.73 on credit cards in 2008/09. (1st June 2008 -31st May 2009). This information reveals the high living lifestyle enjoyed across the world at Welsh taxpayer' s expense. The itemised credit card bills ...
So, yes, I have been lax on the blogging front, firing off a stream of consciousness this morning and not much else all weekend. There is only one man to blame for this, and he is Julian Clary. I picked up Murder Most Fab on a whim from the library, despite its lurid pick cover, and it has kept me enthralled throughout. It's tightly plotted and laugh out loud funny, although to someone who spends a lot of time in Doctor Who fandom the absolute filth promised by the cover is oddly coy and reticent. It definitely gets the SB ...
